A new year and new month – January 2013 Maui Real Estate Sales Statistics are out from the Realtors Association of Maui. The big news is the big jump in median single family home price – now at $550,000. This compares to $508,000 in December 2012 and $399,000 in January 1 year ago. This is based off of 63 home sales closed in January (compared to 84 in December 2012 end-of-year rush, and up from 50 sales in January 1 year ago).
For the condo market, the January 2013 median price is $292,000 based on 60 closings. The volume is way down from 140 units closed in December, again, probably due to end-of-year rush due to uncertainty in tax laws that existed at end of 2012 for rules in 2013. In particular, many short sellers were worried about closing by end of 2012 as the 2007 Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act was set to expire at the end of 2012. There were 91 units sold in January 1 year earlier by comparison.
Month by month, the picture looks quite different at this early stage of the year. Kihei, the second-busiest area for home sales, had a median home price of $450,000 in January 2013, compared to $620,000 in December 2012, and compared to $510,000 in January 1 year earlier. Central Maui, the busiest home sale area, had a median price of $449,000 this January, with 19 homes sold.
Also, interesting facts we found about 2012 sales: Per a search in the MLS, there were 1251 condos closed in year 2012, and 736 of them were cash, which is 59%. It’s tough to compete when you need a loan. However, loans are used 41% of the time. As for homes, 301 of 937 single family homes sold in year 2012 were cash (32%).