Kona Kohala Blog

I thought it might be interesting to compare sales and median price numbers and percentage changes between the entire island's numbers and those in West Hawaii, North Kona and South Kohala.  What I found was that South Kohala has seen some very large percentage increases in the number of sales this March compared to last March and some pretty good sized drops in the median price when compared to North Kona or the rest of Hawaii Island.

First, let's look at county wide numbers.  In March of 2011 there have been 363 Single Family Residences (SFR's) sold which translates to a +13.8% increase year over year.  Condos island wide show 160 sales which is a whopping 35.6% increase over March of 2010.

North Kona sold 94 SFR's this month which is a 19% increase over last year's number.  Condo sales were up just 8.2% with a total of 79 sold in March.

In South Kohala we had only 52 SFR sales but compared to last year that's a huge 57.6% improvement.  While that is indeed a large jump up, South Kohala condos made an even more impressive increase of 94.3% over March of 2010 by closing on 68 units.

Median price is where we have our anomaly in SFR's in North Kona but first let's look at the Island's numbers.  Island wide, SFR median price is down -5.5% to $240,000.  For condos around the county median price has dropped to $230,000, a -16.4% decrease.

In North Kona the median price for a SFR has contradicted numbers all over the place from Hawaii to most spots on the mainland, our median price continues to increase.  The median price for a SFR in North Kona is $402,650 up +3.2% for March.  This is the turn around I've been talking about now for three weeks.  Only time will tell for certain but this could be an indicator that we have either hit or are very close to the bottom for prices, at least for SFR's.  Condos in North Kona are following the trends set here and on the mainland and that is a decline of -33.6% to $172,000.

South Kohala is also following the declines seen around the county and the country.  SFR's here are down by -11.7% to $330,000.  Condos along the Gold Coast and in the Waikoloa Village have dropped -29.1% giving us a median price of just $340,000, pretty low by South Kohala standards.

Since we are working in a market with relatively small numbers we need to look at yearly trends to get a more accurate idea of what's happening out there.  Tomorrow we can look at the last 12 months to see how our real estate market is performing.