West Hawaii Real Estate Market Shows Little Affect With Eruption

After the eruption began in early May, many people who have been on the fence about buying a home in West Hawaii, were waiting to see if housing prices would start to drop. Some potential buyers were waiting for the statistics from June to see how the eruption may have affected the market in West Hawaii. Numbers are in from the Hawaii Information Service and what we are seeing is this, across the island, home sales have dropped less than 2% year over year and year to date, they have dropped 2.59%. Median prices for single-family homes have increased 9.11% year over year and year to date, prices have increased 7.46%. Islandwide, condo prices have increased by 12.95% so far this year.

For North Kona, 52 single family homes sold last June compared to 55 this year, a 5.77% increase. For condos, 49 units sold last June and 39 sold this year a 20% decrease.  Year to date 275 single family homes have sold compared to 272 last year, which is a 1% gain year over year. For condos, however, 226 have sold from January to June this year, compared to 246 last year, which is a 8.13% drop.  The median price of single-family homes in this area decreased 2% year over year from $675,250 to $660,500. Condominium prices jumped 10.24% year over year from $317,500 to $350,000 and year to date prices are up 12.16%.

South Kohala saw a 5.77% increase in home sales year over year and a 1.10% gain year to date. The median price for a single-family home has risen 5.45% from January to $600,000 in June and condos have increased 2.54% from $512,000 in January 2018 to $525,000 in June.

Lance Owens, LUVA Realtor, stated that LUVA has not seen home buyers backing out of escrows, although that has been reported in a few title companies due to worried homebuyers who are unsure of living on an active volcano.  Homes are staying on the market on average for only 22 days right now and there still is a general lack of available inventory, which is keeping prices steady and actually rising.  People who have made plans to purchase homes here are still moving ahead with their plans and according to quite a few of our new buyers, they are very excited to start living their new lives on our island.

Lance and I sat down for a Facebook Live on July 6th to discuss these numbers and discuss the eruption on the market in general and Bill 108, the proposed restrictions of short-term rentals on Hawaii Island.

If you have questions about the market, join our  365 Kona’s “I’m Moving to Hawaii!” Facebook group, and get updates and info about real estate in West Hawaii!

My husband, Eric Ziemelis, has his license at LUVA Real Estate and we do referrals all over the island! Please email us at [email protected] directly.

The top image is of a listing currently for sale by LUVA Real Estate on Kilohana St in Kailua Kona!