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Richard T Dolbeare (RA), ABR, CRS, RSPS, BS/MS - Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today

Silent Sunday--Kauai Blue Room Wet Cave

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Kauai "Blue Room" Cave

Looking out from Kauai's Waikapala'e Cave, home of the famous "Blue Room". The cave has a "lake" and a short swim to the right-rear leads to the Blue Room. A new No Swimming sign prevented me from entering during this recent visit.

Aloha!

Search Kauai/Big Island | Search Maui | Email | About Me | Visit Website | Phone/Text (808) 651-4550Richard T. Dolbeare (RA), Keller Williams Realty logo

Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today--Helping Buyers Find Dream Homes & Sellers Find Buyers

Visit www.KauaiRocks.comfor Hawaii real estate information

Silent Sunday--Silversword on Haleakala

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Silversword on Maui's Haleakala

Silversword grows only on Haleakala, Maui's dormant volcano. This species is not found anywhere else in the world.

Aloha!

Search Kauai/Big Island | Search Maui | Email | About Me | Visit Website | Phone/Text (808) 651-4550Richard T. Dolbeare (RA), Keller Williams Realty logo

Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today--Helping Buyers Find Dream Homes & Sellers Find Buyers

Visit www.KauaiRocks.comfor Hawaii real estate information

Silent Sunday-Haleakala Observatories

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Maui Observatories Atop Haleakala

I'm entertaining a mainland visitor and enjoying some of the sights often overlooked as a Maui resident. This photo is of the observatories atop Haleakala, nearly 2 miles up.

Aloha!

Search Kauai/Big Island | Search Maui | Email | About Me | Visit Website | Phone/Text (808) 651-4550Richard T. Dolbeare (RA), Keller Williams Realty logo

Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today--Helping Buyers Find Dream Homes & Sellers Find Buyers

Visit www.KauaiRocks.comfor Hawaii real estate information

October Sales Report for Kauai & Maui

Kauai and Muai year-to-date sales statistics through October 2009 compared to the same period in 2008 show that this continues to be an unprecedented opportunity for buyers. Selection is huge and prices are down substantially There remains a large amount of inventory to be cleared out before downward price pressures ease. An upturn in number of sales is key to that and there are hints that this may now be happening. Some economists think we may be at or near the bottom of the cycle.

This Month's Update

Year-to-Date Median Sales Price (Jan-October 2009)

Type Kauai % Change Maui % Change
Single Family Homes $470,000 -25% $500,000 -14%
Condominiums $289,000 -44% $469,000 -15%
Vacant Land $284,500 -54% $512,000 -27%

Year-to-Date Number of Sales (Jan-October 2009)

Type Kauai % Change Maui % Change
Single Family Homes 201 -20% 521 -34%
Condominiums 129 -16% 675 -7%
Vacant Land 60 -43% 83 -11%

One of the most striking differences between the Kauai and Maui markets is condo sales (both numbers and prices). It has been my "soft" observation that some new construction on Maui has continued through the downturn while most has stopped on Kauai and this data adds support to this.


[Data extracted from Kauai and Maui multiple list reports. Data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should not be relied on for buying or selling decisions. There are likely to be differing opinions and interpretations of the data.]

Aloha & Mahalo!

Search Kauai/Big Island | Search Maui | Email | About Me | Visit Website | Phone/Text (808) 651-4550Richard Dolbeare (RA), Keller Williams Realty

Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today--Helping Buyers Find Dream Homes & Sellers Find Buyers

Visit www.KauaiRocks.com for Hawaii real estate information

Kauai Sales Stats For October

Kauai home sales statistics have been released for the month of October 2009. The figures are island-wide comparisons of current sales versus year ago periods. Monthly values fluctuate widely and I've always preferred to use year-to-date data to average out the fluctuations. Nevertheless, it's hard to overlook the huge improvement in October sales.

It's important to keep in mind that the data reflects what is actually selling and not necessarily a change in value of a particular property. In my experience investor purchases tend to be in higher-priced resort areas whereas owner-occupant purchases tend to be more focused in value-priced areas. My buyer clients today are much more heavily weighted toward owner-occupant than in previous years when investors dominated. More sales in value-priced areas and fewer in higher-priced resort areas will drive median sales prices down. Of course the number of sales speak for themselves although here again, an absence of investor sales will drive the numbers down.

Number of Sales

Type October % Change Year-To-Date % Change
Single Family Homes 32 +39% 201 -20%
Condominiums 16 +78% 129 -16%

Median Sales Price

Type October % Change Year-To-Date % Change
Single Family Homes $446,500 -13% $470,000 -25%
Condominiums $395,000 -24% $340,000 -38%

Additional breakdown of this information is available to my clients upon request.

Aloha!

Search Kauai/Big Island | Search Maui | Email | About Me | Visit Website | Phone/Text (808) 651-4550Richard Dolbeare (RA), Century 21 All Islands logo

Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today--Helping Buyers Find Dream Homes & Sellers Find Buyers

Visit www.KauaiRocks.com for Hawaii real estate information