Maui Real Estate Statistics

The Realtor Association of Maui (RAM) recently released new 2008 statistics. First quarter 2008 Single family home sales in Maui County are down from 341 in 2007 to 228 in 2008. The median single home price for the same period is down from $625,000 to $602,783. The median condominium price in Maui County in the first quarter of this year was up from $552,500 in 2007 to $587,000 in 2008. Much of this was attributed to high end sales in Wailea and not necessarily condos in less affluent sections of Maui. The number of days on market for a condo in March 2005 was 104 days, and at the peak of the real estate boom, to March 2008 was 162 days. For a single family home during the same period was 123 days versus 162 days. What this tells us is Maui is feeling the effects of the mainland market crisis in a slow down, but clearly not at levels being experienced in California, Florida and elsewhere. For all intensive purposes, the sales volume is healthy for an island with 140,000 residents. What obviously drives the Maui market is the wealthy vacation home buyers. What has dropped off were those leveraging their mainland properties to buy a Maui property. Now the market has shifted and we are seeing a flood of Canadian buyers snapping up deals with a strong exchange rate in favor of the Canadians. These buyers are not concerned about any major downward price adjustments. They realize as with any investment, prices will fluctuate to some degree and they are not here to buy and flip. They see it as a buying opportunity and will be the real winners in the short run. If you are a mainland buyer interested in a second home on Maui, now is the time to buy. There is a lot of inventory to choose from thereby offering beautiful properties in beautiful ocean front locations.