Kauai Real Estate Update - Last week was a busy one for Kauai Real Estate with a tremendous amount of properties going into escrow. For a complete list of everything that Sold, was Just Listed and went into Escrow for the last week on Kauai click here: Kauai Real Estate Activity March 1 to 7th, 2021.
Poipu Beach Real Estate - Sold! I just sold 5314 Opua Place which is located in the Kiahuna Golf Village here in Poipu Beach. One of my favorite features of this house is the first thing you notice when walking in: a huge great room that opens up to a massive back yard with a lovely outdoor living room. A constant comment that I got about this house was that it had a “good feeling” about it.
For a complete market update on the Poipu area click here: Poipu Beach Current Market Analysis.
Kiahuna Plantation Real Estate - Coming soon. I have a really sweet top floor corner unit that I’ll be listing soon at the Kiahuna, contact me for more information. Here is a market update on the resort: Kiahuna Plantation Current Market Analysis.
Kauai Rejoins Safe Travels Pre-Travel Program
It’s official. Kauai will rejoin the Safe Travels program effective April 5, 2021. If you provide a negative Covid-19 test that was taken within 72 hours of travel to Kauai you do not have to quarantine. For more information on the Safe Travels program click here: Safe Travels To Kauai.
Kauai’s Mayor Derek Kawakami said that by that date all workers in the hospitality industry and restaurant employees will be offered the vaccine. As of March 4th 26,000 people on Kauai have gotten their vaccine. Starting yesterday Kauai residents 70 and over can get their vaccine.
Zuckerberg Donates To Kauai’s Workforce
The Founder of Facebook and Kauai North Shore property owner Mark Zukerberg, along with his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan, donated $4.2 million to the “Hawaii Community Foundation”, a organization geared towards getting residents back to work.
On Kauai the chapter is known as “Kaua’i Rise to Work” and in 2020 they found 280 jobs for Kauai residents who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Kauai had to stop their program because they ran out of Federal funding but this gift from the Zukerbergs will allow them to start up again.
Participants receive weekly pay, free health insurance and education on learning new work skills. More information on this program, including how to participate, click here: Kauai Rise To Work.
No Casinos For Hawaii
This has come up from time to time so it’s no surprise that with the decline in tourism that the topic of legalizing gambling in Hawaii is back. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands brought forth a measure to build a casino in Waikiki and second one in Kapolei. Another idea was to have a lottery.
As this was working its way through the government it drew strong support as well as opposition but subsequently both ideas never made it off the ground.
One lawmaker said that 48 out of the 50 states have some form of gambling but Hawaii has not found the right one for our state yet.
Loves Bakery To Close
Another casualty to the panemic is Hawaii’s own Loves Bakery which has been in business for 170 years. They will be shutting down operations at the end of this month. All 231 of their employees will be laid off and all six locations on Kauai, Oahu, Maui and the Big Island will shut down.
The company said that they are “seriously delinquent in rent and are not able to qualify for a second round of PPP funding.” The company also added that the pandemic impacted Mainland suppliers which caused delays for Loves getting ingredients and replacement parts for aging bakery equipment.
Oahu, Maui and Big Island Real Estate
Last week I posted the Year To Date real estate statistics for Kauai, now we can take a look at the other islands.
Oahu’s Residential Median Price hit new heights at $917,500 which is a 19.9% gain from last years $765,000. The number of sales was 266 which is 2% higher than a year ago. Agents said the number of sales would have been far more but there is a lack of inventory, prices are expected to climb in the month of March.
The Median Price for condominiums is up by 6% to $457,500 compared to $429,000 this same time last year. The number of sales rose is down by 11% largely due to the pandemic and the soft market for vacation rental condominiums.
On Maui the number of homes that sold Year To Date rose 20.2%, 202 homes were sold so far compared to this same time last year which was 168. The Median Price is up as well by 23.4% rising from $754,180 in 2020 to $931,000 in 2021.
Condominium sales are on trending upwards as well going from 262 in 2020 to 281 in 2021 which is a 7.3% increase, the Median Price is up by 19.1% to $812,264 compared to $682,137 in 2020.
On the Big Island of Hawaii the number of homes sold rose to 21.66% compared to this same time last year. Year to Date there have been 483 homes sold compared to 397 this same time last year. The Median Price is up as well to $490,000 compared to $449,000 in 2019, that is a 9.13% increase.
Condominiums saw a larger gain in the number of sales by 46.03%, last year there were 126 condos sold compared to 184 at the end of February. The Median Price rose significantly to $477,000 compared to $350,00 this same time last year, a gain of 36.29%.
