I represented the buyers on their purchase of a 2.58 acre lot in the Kulana subdivision located in Kapaa. The views from this lot were simply stunning, what an incredible homesite. See more of this property by clicking here; Kulana Lot 3C. For a complete list of the real estate activity for last week on the island of Kauai click here; Kauai Real Estate January 27 to February 2, 2025
Poipu Beach Real Estate Update- For a list of the Fee Simple real estate activity since the beginning of the year click here; Poipu Beach Fee Simple Current Market Analysis
For the Kiahuna Plantation click here; Kiahuna Plantation Current Market Analysis
Short Lived Major Storm With High Winds Hits Kauai
A low pressure system brought high winds in the 40 to 60 mph range along with a lot of rain to the State starting last Wednesday to the State. In looking at the storm coverage it seems like the impact to Kauai was minimal compared to some other islands.
Starting Thursday there were about 400 flights that were impacted, at times none were coming in or out of Lihue. An Alaska Airlines flight to Kauai had to turn back about halfway from Seattle due to the high winds. A “ground stop” was issued for all interisland flights, social media had videos of people sleeping on the floors of Honolulu Airport.
On Kauai we had power outages, by Thursday 4,000 people had no power in the Anahola, Haena and Kapaa. Kekaha and Kokee were also impacted. I can say that here in the Poipu Koloa area all utilities were on all the time. I also didn’t see any damage done anywhere.
By Friday things were clearing up and we had a beautiful weekend. I’m including a video from my morning walk on Saturday, February 1st, this was taken at the Sheraton.
New Kauai Bill Proposed, Interesting Tax Break
With the Median Home price on Kauai being $1.325 Million at the end of January, health care workers, county personal, teachers and others are wondering how, or if, they are going to be able to buy a home.
A new “High Density” Bill for just the area of Lihue, which has 60% of the jobs on the island but only 25% of the housing is being discussed. This bill would make it easier for homeowners to build guest houses or ADU’s (accessory dwelling units).
Looking at Vail, Colorado. The proposed bill is modeled after one in Vail, Colorado which has a similar problem with workforce housing. Kauai’s proposed bill would allow the county of Kauai to have an agreement with homeowners for “deed-restricted” housing, one occupant of the home must work a minimum of 30 hours a week at a local business, in return the homeowner would get 15 to 20 percent of the property’s fair market value.
For this program you must live and work here to participate which would also be essentially promoting more locally owned housing.
Kauai’s Deadliest Crosswalk Being Renovated
There have been 17 crashes at the Kawaihau and Kuhio Highway crosswalk in the last 4 years. I’ve been in the area many times and it’s easy to see how this can happen. Kawaihau is at the north end of Kapaa and is a main road that feeds a massive amount of housing. Going from Kapaa to the North the car speeds are not too bad but coming from the North the cars are going around a curve and can be traveling at a faster speed.
The crosswalk runs parallel to the Highway going across Kawaihau Road. Last Christmas a man was killed while walking his bike across this intersection.
This crosswalk has been known to be a problem area and has been slated to be worked on since 2021. Not sure if the recent fatality prompted things to go quicker but starting on February 14th, 2025 this crosswalk will be raised, there will be curb extensions, lighting added and a “speed hump” added to giving southbound drivers a heads up to slow down.
Heads up that if you are traveling in this area during this time, I would expect the traffic, which is slow now, to be slower.
Kauai Real Estate End of January 2025 vs 2024
This data I was really looking forward to getting as I have been seeing an uptick in activity but I depend on the numbers to tell me what is going on. Clearly, after the November election and in December Buyers took advantage of the larger amount of inventory and the slowdown in sales and bought property. Those past two months of buying activity we’d see in these January numbers. Here are some highlights;
🏝️ Home sales were down a bit with the exception of the South Shore. This skewed the Median Price.
🏝️ For just the month of January the Sold Price when compared to the Original List Price for homes went from 90.54% to 91%.
🏝️ Condominiums did very well, the number of sales up in every area.
🏝️ South Shore condominiums leading the way with a 31.91% uptick in their Median Price.
I’ll provide a graph comparing the two years. Keep in mind these numbers are general in nature and might not reflect your particular area of interest. Give me a call to do a deeper dive.
