Kauai Real Estate News and Reviews! March 3
Aloha From Beautiful Kauai! I hope you all had a great weekend and thank you for joining me for Monday Morning Coffee. Let’s get right to the real estate news.
Our office is located at the Kiahuna Plantation here in Poipu and their front desk has reported a record February. We know that to be true as we’ve had a lot of walk ins to our office, open houses and the steady real estate activity continues. For more detailed information on a particular project you are interested in contact me for details.
I have included an excel spread sheet for last weeks new listings and sales. On it you’ll see the number of recorded sales have tripled which is all those properties I had seen go into escrow during January hitting their closing mark. Good news! For a complete list of what has been listed and what has sold this last week CLICK HERE
*****Record Number Of Whales Off Maui Coast*****
More than 700 volunteers across the state participated in the National Oceanic whale watch count and a record number of whales were counted off the Maui coast. 1,726 whales were reported for 2007 which broke the 2006 record of 1,265.
*****Hawaii Foreclosures Less Then One-Tenth of 1%*****
As of late foreclosures have been the national headline news but how does Hawaii fit into this picture? Hawaii home foreclosure fillings are slowing down but is still up for the eighth straight month. RealtyTrac reports the Hawaii filings translates to less than one-tenth of 1 percent of local households nationally which ranks our state as one of the lowest in the nation. Resort properties have been affected even less then that by foreclosures. As shown by these figures real estate trends cannot be measured in blanket national figures and it’s important to get a reality check on how the market you’re looking into is performing.
*****2008 Tourism Off To a Good Start*****
Hawaii reported a 4.1 percent increase in tourism with the biggest increase being the Canadian market which is up 27.7%! Visitors from the western part of the USA were up 3.9% and the eastern part was up 2.2%. Visitors arriving by air vacation dollar spending rose to $84.1 million, cruise ship spending data was not in yet but their numbers have continued to rise.
*****Lihue Airport Opens Cell Phone Waiting Area*****
Those picking up arrivals at our Lihue airport can now wait up to an hour for passengers in the cell phone waiting area which is located by the rental cars. Before the system was to drive in circles around the airport until your party checked out of the baggage area creating a lot of congestion in our little airport. Lighted directional signs are being used to guide people to the new waiting area where you can wait for a cell phone call from your party when they are ready to be picked up. Similar systems are being used in Honolulu and some mainland airports.
*****Superferry Back In the News*****
The trouble plagued Superferry has made the front page of our newspaper twice this week. On Friday it was announced the Department Of Transportation are holding informational public hearings in conjunction with their Environmental Impact Study to allow for public input on the impact the Superferry will have on Kauai, the public meeting will be held from 2 to 5 pm and 6 to 9 pm on March 19th at the Community College in Lihue. On Sunday it was reported that the Maui Tomorrow Foundation, the Sierra Club and the Kahului Harbor Coalition filed an appeal to last year’s reversal decision to allow the Superferry to operate while an environmental study is being done. Judge Joseph Cardozas original ruling was to stop the Superferry from operating but Governor Linda Lingles enacted emergency legislation to reverse that decision. The appeal filed by the three Maui group’s states it is unconstitutional and allows a single business to not be held by the same rules as everybody else. Superferry officials have not commented on either news items. Currently the new mode of transportation is in dry-dock undergoing repairs and is set to resume service March 25.