Pete Jalbert R(S)

The summer surf season on Maui started with a bang this season. The waves on the south shores of the island were ample and consistent during May and June. It seemed like sometime in July that we went into a period of surf doldrums. This changed over the last 24 hours as a steady and sizable south swell triggered a high surf advisory for beaches along Maui's South Shore and the beaches in and South of Lahaina. September can be a good month for surf on Maui as the South Shores see swells from the end of Austral winter and the North Shore of Maui starts to come alive as we turn towards winter in the Northern hemisphere. Let's hope for a good winter surf season.

It is the end of Labor Day weekend and the first day of September. This traditionally marks a shift in the real estate market on Maui. If winter is our peak season, summer is the second busiest time of year for real estate. Fall on the other hand, is our slowest time of year. We see our fewest number of visitors during the fall months and the real estate market tends to slow accordingly. I just wanted to give a few thoughts on the state of the Maui Real Estate market as we start our slow season.

The Maui market is like most of the mainland that we are seeing price adjustments throughout almost all segments of the market. That being said, our price decreases started later and have been less dramatic than many markets. We have also seen a lot fewer foreclosures than some of our feeder markets than California. Getting a good sense of price adjustments is challenging in Maui. The homes are pretty varied and the small sample size makes our average and median price changes fluctuate quite a bit.

I like to look at sales volume as an indicator of the health of our market. I will have a couple of posts looking at September sales volume on THE Maui Real Estate Blog this week. I will post the unofficial sales stats for September tomorrow or Wednesday. That will be followed by the official stats a little later in the week as the local Realtors Association posts its numbers.

One number that doesn't make it into the stats is the current pending sales. This has been an interesting number to track throughout much of the late spring and summer. Over much of that period of time, we saw our number of pending sales or properties under contract steadily declining. Plain simple that means for all of the deals that were closing, we weren't seeing an equal number of properties going under contract. That is a pretty healthy indication that our market was slowing. That being said, we appeared to reach some sort of stable point towards the end of July. After dipping down as low as 290 pending sales in the county. That number appeared to stabilize and then increase in to the low 300s.

I took that as something of a positive sign. While sales volume is down, it was not getting worse as the summer went on. If anything it appeared to be bumping up slightly. This is where the comments on seasonality of the market are worth noting. I imagine that our pending sales will start to decrease again as we get to the fall slow season. As properties put under contract during the busier summer season sell, there will likely be fewer properties going under contract.

What does this mean for buyers and sellers? For buyers, fall can be a good time. It is that much less competitive with fewer potential buyers on island. For sellers, this is a time when you really need to be sharp on your pricing. With fewer potential buyers out there, you want to stand out to those that are looking for properties. Those that need to sell or want to sell quickly, will need to price below recent comparable sales to help stand out. Contact me to discuss the Maui market in greater detail or for assistance with buying or selling property.

When people think of Maui and Hawaii in general, they often think of the beach first. Heck as an island resident, when I have some down time I tend to grab my surf board and head to the beach before anything else. Yesterday the prospects for surf were limited so my friend Tom and I did something a little different and headed up to the Iao Valley in the West Maui Mountains. Maui has some beautiful mountain areas from the massive dormant volcano Haleakala to the lush and rugged West Mauis.

The West Mauis are an old remnant volcano that is eroding rapidly. The results of the rapid erosion are jagged, steep and lush peaks. The steep slopes are filled with the trails from periodic waterfalls. When the area is subjected to heavier rain, hundreds of waterfalls spill down these steeper slopes. We did a nice little hike up in the Iao valley. Much of the hike was forested and a pleasant relief from the warm summer sun. The forest is a mix of native plants and non-native vegetation. Regardless of origins, there are lots of beautiful flowers along the way. We were also able to climb a little off the valley floor to get some more panoramic views of the mountains surrounding us.

Perhaps, the best part of the hike was the post hike dip in the Iao Stream. The cool mountain waters were a great way to wash off sweat from the trail.

The Iao Valley is located in Wailuku, Maui. There are properties for sale along the entrance of the valley and on the lower slopes of the West Maui Mountains. Check out all of the current listings for Wailuku Homes on MauiRealEstate.com.

I was out at our new listing in Haiku yesterday. I had my camera with me and snapped some pictures of some of the fruit and flowers that I saw when I was walking around the property.

As you come down the driveway, you go past a few big mango trees. It has been a banner year for mangoes. The ground below the trees was covered with ripe and over ripe mangos. There were also a few beautiful looking fruit hanging from the trees.

The sellers have planted the area above their cottage with a variety of fruit, vergetables and flowers. As I was walking up the stair case from the cottage to the parking area, I was impressed by the bromeliads.

I had to stop and get a close up of one of the more striking flowers.

The flower almost looked like it was from another planet. Maui is such a beautiful landscape, but sometimes you need to stop and take in the splendor of the local flora.

It has been a busy week for me, so I haven't been able to post on my Active Rain blog as much as I would like. In the slowing Maui Market, busy is a good thing so I can't complain. I have been able to blog with a little more frequency on my other Maui Real Estate Blog. The subject matter has been pretty diverse ranging from luxury market updates, to cultural events, to weather, to island sports and even something on some of Maui's efforts to develop more sustainable energy. Here are a few highlights.

• The Maui Ultra Luxury market has remained relatively strong as we a slow down in much of our market. Over the last couple of months, I have been comparing the performance of the market vs. 2007 numbers. I recently took a look at the performance of the Kapalua Luxury market. While the market has slowed from the record breaking numbers of 2007, buyers have still be purchasing properties in healthy numbers in this beautiful luxury resort in West Maui.
• I had a couple of posts on the weather in Maui. I have to admit to being a bit of a weather geek. While Maui and Hawaii offer some of the most consistent weather and arguably the best climate, we have seen some unusual weather over the last few weeks. This changed on Thursday when the trade winds returned and the watersheds started to receive some much needed rainfall.
• Last but not least, a coalition of Maui and mainland companies announced their plans to build a new bio-diesel farm on the island using algae. This exciting project is one of many efforts around the island to move towards sustainable energy and to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels.

I hope to get back in the groove with my Active Rain blog this week. In the interim, I hope you find these posts on Maui and the Maui Real Estate market informative. Contact me for assistance or questions on the Maui Real Estate market.