Kauai Real Estate Update- Just Listed: Bright and spacious condominium at Halelani Village, located in Phase II of Halelani Village on the coveted second floor. Larger than most, this 807 square feet condo is one of the rare units that have high, vaulted ceilings that usher in the sunlight and tropical breezes. Listed at $595,000 (FS). For all the real estate activity on the island of Kauai for last week click here: Kauai Real Estate June 26 to July 2, 2023.
Poipu Beach Real Estate Update- Inventory is shrinking here in Poipu Beach, the lowest priced vacation rental property is a 2 Bedroom 2 Bath Nihi Kai condominium for $1,190,000. The inventory is that shockingly low for Fee Simple properties on the south shore. For a complete list of all the fee simple real estate activity since January 1 click here: Poipu Beach Fee Simple Current Market Analysis
Kiahuna Plantation Real Estate Update-
Just Listed- Kiahuna Plantation unit #53. Corner 1 bedroom on the the top floor of a small 6 unit building in the very heart of this oceanfront resort. A successful vacation rental with 3 oversized floor to ceiling louvered windows. Priced right at $475,000 (LH). In other Kiahuna Plantation news: the landlease renegotiation for Phase I and II have been settled and it went up 80%. For the real estate activity at the Kiahuna Plantation click here: Kiahuna Plantation Current Market Analysis
7 Injured On Hawaiian Airlines Flight To Sydney
About midway into an 11 hour flight from Honolulu to Sydney a Hawaiian Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence, so much so that 7 people were badly injured with three of those being flight attendants. The FAA is investigating the incident but at this time it looks to be an unfortunate incident of encountering severe turbulence. The plane was inspected when it landed and the same plane was released to fly back to Honolulu the same day.
The injuries were those that were moving about the cabin or didn’t have their seat belts on when the plane encountered the turbulence.
County Cesspool Upgrade Plan Revamped
In 2017 a law was passed that any property in the State of Hawaii that has a cesspool needs to upgraded to a septic system by 2050. In 2021 Kaua‘i’s Residential Cesspool Conversion Program formed to help those that struggle financially with this. At first it was thought to give $2 million in Federal Funds to the County Housing Agency to do the work for the people, however the logistics of that did not work out. They negotiated instead to receive $1 million in funds and provide up to $20K to residents that do the conversion provided they meet several guidelines which are:
- Properties outside of Kaua‘i’s visitor destination areas that have or plan to build an Additional Dwelling Unit, Additional Rental Unit or guest house.
- Properties in areas deemed by the state as priority upgrade areas: Kapa‘a, Wailua, Po‘ipu, Koloa, Hanalei Bay;
- Households earning no more than 120 percent of the 2019 median household income;
- Properties receiving a homeowner’s exemption;
- Properties with a residential real property tax classification;
- Properties located outside of the county’s sewer expansion area.
The funds will be given on a first come first served basis. When to apply for this has not been released yet.
UHERO Report On Hawaii Housing
The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (UHERO) has been the go to source for data relating to Hawaii’s economy. They recently published “The Hawaii Housing Factbook” which revealed, without a huge amount of surprise, that Hawaii is leading the nation in housing costs. The largest contributing factor is everything needs to be shipped or flown in, with supply chain and labor issues on the mainland we feel it here tenfold. While it’s always been challenging for locals to buy housing that problem is now at the worst level it’s ever been at, for a condominium or a home the price is well above the States Median income level. With the rise in interest rates now the number of people in the state that can affored a mortgage payment went from 44% to 30% in the last two years.
For the island of Kauai here is the current data gathered:
Kauai County
- Population: 73,247
- Housing units: 30,147
- Median age of housing units: 40 years
- Net housing units added over the past five years: -241
- Single-family homes permitted over the past five years: 937
- Multi-family developments permitted over the past five years: 38
- Active short-term vacation rentals: 4,818, which is 16% of housing
To see the full report click here: UHERO Hawaii Housing Factbook
Kauai Real Estate Year To Date 2023 vs 2022
It’s the beginning of July and we have the first six months of data to look at and compare to last year. For the first time the Median Prices are making a little more sense and I attribute that to our 6 months of data, in previous years the numbers have made sense within a shorter amount of time. Also, it’s interesting to note these figures are the first we see with a full year behind of since the interest rates went from 2 and 3 percent to 6 and 7 percent.
If you look at just the month of June 2022 there were 42 homes sold island wide compared to 35 this year. The Sold Price compared to the Original List Price, meaning before any price reductions were done, was 100% in 2022 and in June of 2023 it’s 97.5%. Sellers are still getting close to what they are asking for but the key factor is the pricing has to make sense for today’s buyer and properties that don't need any updating are selling far better than those that do.
Below is a graph of our market activity comparing the Year To Date Sales at the end of June 2023 compared to 2022.
