2008 Year End Statistics 

 The year-end statistics for the entire island of Kauai show the following:

Residential homes sales are down by 36% in dollar volume, 31% by number of units sold and 5% in median price.

Land sales decreased by 46% in dollar volume, 36% by number of parcels sold and 22% in median price.

Condominiums took the biggest hit with 48% in dollar volume and 43% in units sold; however, had the lowest drop in median price with just 4%.

One of the questions that most people are curious about is when did the market peak? I went to the archives of data and found that for residential homes on Kauai, the largest number of transactions occurred in the 2nd quarter of 2004.  However, the 3rd quarter of 2006 was when the median price for a house on Kauai was $735,500.   

The other question buyers and sellers want to know is how much are real estate prices decreasing?

If you look strictly at the yearend figure for the median price of $615,000 for a house on Kauai compared to $650,000 for the same period in 2007, it would seem that the decrease of 5% is not too bad.  However, yearend figures are calculated using a 12 month period that saw an unprecedented number of factors that had direct impact on the real estate market.  Thus, I looked at quarterly figures because I think this block of time provides more insight on trends.

Residential    Median Prices                                

1st Quarter   $668,750                                        

2nd Quarter  $637,500                                        

3rd Quarter   $560,000                                        

4th Quarter   $520,000                                        

Quarterly numbers would suggest the median price decrease from the beginning of 2008 and the ending of the year to be closer to 22% than 5%.

Land

1st Quarter   $807,775

2nd Quarter  $395,000

3rd Quarter   $372,500

4th Quarter   $345,500

The first quarter land sales are skewed by the recordings of land sales from the Kukuiula Development in Poipu.  So, while the median price for land is significant, I do not think it is quite as dramatic as the first and fourth quarter numbers would indicate. If you use $605,000 (the median at the beginning of the year), the decrease is closer to 42% versus the 22% reported at the end of 2008.

Condominiums

1st Quarter   $612,500

2nd Quarter  $599,500

3rd Quarter   $438,500

4th Quarter   $520,000

According to yearend figures, the median price for a condominium on Kauai was $545,000 versus $565,000 which represents only a 4% decrease.  However, the number of condominiums that sold in Kauai dropped by 43%.

 

For details on year to date figures, click here. 

For details on quarterly figures, click here.