Maui Bottoms (not bikinis!) Good For Honolulu Real Estate

October 14th, 2009 categories: Rants & Riffs

In the past I have separated the Honolulu real estate market from the respective markets of the neighbor islands. Generally, Oahu’s diverse economy has helped it to fair much better in the midst of a slow down in tourism. The outer-islands are very tied to the travel business and therefore, they seem have experienced a much more dramatic negative hit in this recession. The Maui News is reporting that there are signs of improvement in the Maui real estate market.

“There are encouraging signs here and there, and at least things have not gotten much worse. But they haven’t gotten much better, either, according to statistics from the association’s Multiple Listing Service.

The number of sales closed is still way down. In September, there were 53 closings of single-family homes, which was not a huge difference from the 66 in September 2008, or the 74 the year before that, or the 63 the year before that. But the past four years have been very low compared with Septembers in 2004 and 2005, when there were more than 100 closings each month.

Condominium closings tell a similar tale, although this September’s 62 was better than the 50 of September 2008. Going further back, however, shows how current sales have taken a big dip.

So far this year, there have been 450 single-family closings, compared with 708 in the first three quarters of last year.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE MAUI NEWS ARTICLE

Improvement in the Maui market is positive for Honolulu, because people who visit Maui will go back to their homes reporting the good news. These reports will start shaping and shifting public opinion in the mainland. As Maui is perceived as being in a recovery, the balance of Hawaii will benefit from this good light.

SEARCH FOR YOUR HONOLULU HOME

If you would like to discuss your real estate needs, feel free to call me at 808-737-2093 or toll free at 877-737-2093. You can email me at keahi@lava.net.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 9:10 am and is filed under Rants & Riffs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.