AGENT MLS HOME FINDER

Kauai real estate is one that lacks any sort of internal or temporal consistency. It seems that the Garden Island of Hawaii has its own niche in the statewide and national real estate market, seemingly independent from the other major forces at work in comparable climates. This is a characteristic which Kauai seems to share with the Big Island, also known as the Island of Hawaii, which similarly has difficulty in maintaining stability. According to a September 8, 2009 article in the Honolulu Advertiser, “The real estate markets on the Big Island and Kauai continued their trendless ways last month as prices and sales once again posted a mixed performance…For Kauai the median price of a single-family home declined 11.1 percent to $471,000 in August from $530,000 a year ago but rose 4.7 percent from $450,000 in July. Sales dropped, as the 23 in August were four fewer than the same time a year ago and the number in July.”

Economist Howard Dikus cited the UHERO report in his September 11, 2009 blog post on KGMB.com, when he stated that “It’s a different story for neighbor island condo median prices, driven in part by mainland investors: for the same peak-to-trough period UHERO sees them falling 33% on Maui, 39% on the Big Island, and 46% on Kauai.” An August 26, 2009 article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin pointed out further problems arising from the unstable Kauai real estate market, stating that “Slumps in tourism, real estate, and construction fuel the hard-hitting downturn, experts say…Kauai also is experiencing strong slumps in tourism, construction and real estate, causing it to feel the impact of the economic downturn more than Oahu.”

The Pacific Business News noted a perplexing trend in an online article published on September 8, 2009, noting that while condominium prices rose, the number of Kauai homes for sale that were actually purchased declined. The piece noted that “Sales of condominiums on Kauai picked up in August, while single-family home sales slipped. The trend was similar for median prices, according to statistics from Hawaii Information Service. The median price of a single family home on Kauai last month was $471,000, down 11 percent from $530,000 in August 2008.”