Puakea Golf Course Area Home Sales

Not if some people have their way. Have you attended any of the public hearings? Some residents say they do not want this new development to occur and point out that they are worried about children crossing the street to and from CKMS. Others point out that there is vacant retail space at Kukui Grove Shopping Center. Some of the island residents in Puhi, Lihue and on the South and West sides are excited about the new store which plans to have a wide selection of prepared foods for easy meals. The shopping center complex will include a gas station, and is planned for the the approximately 20 acres commercial property which is across Nuhou Street from the YMCA and Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School. There is talk of a roundabout traffic circle at Kaneka St and even Kauai’s first crosswalk with in-pavement lights. What do you think of traffic circles? Do you think we need more grocery stores? Rumor has it that there is talk of increasing the the size of this project.

The 2007 year end MLS data from the Hawaii Information Service is now available. For a complete three page list which details sales by category and district, please contact JJ Leininger. The real estate property categories include residential, vacant land, condominium, commercial, and business. The five districts of Kauai are Waimea, Koloa, Lihue, Kawaihau, and Hanalei. Here is a summary of the MLS statistics.

For all categories of real estate on Kauai, island-wide, there were 56 properties sold in December 2007. This is a 54.84% decrease from the 124 sales in December of 2006. There were 908 properties sold in the entire year of 2007, which is a 41.53% decrease from the 1553 sales in 2006.

The overall sales volume for December 2007 of $52,304,930 was down 51.35% from December 2006’s sales volume of just over $107.5 million. However, year to year 2007 sales volume saw a 27.13% decrease from 2006. All Kauai real property sales in 2007 totaled just over $722 million as compared to over $1 billion in 2006.

With number of sales down over 40%, and the dollar volume of sales down less than 28%, the median sales price was up by 22.13%. Please keep in mind that this is cumulative data for all types of sales including residential and commercial property.

Canadian and European buyers are getting the red carpet treatment on Kauai. There is an increasing trend towards foreign investors buying real estate on Kauai, and also other United States real property. This new trend is based on the fluctuation of the US dollar, as compared to foreign currencies. I saw a news story on CNN a couple of days ago which stated that top tourist attractions in the country of India, like the Taj Mahal, are no longer accepting US dollars as payment. On Kauai, we get many repeat visitors from other countries such as Germany, France, England, Japan, and Canada. A couple of years back, buying a second home on Kauai posed a unique challenge to the foreign investor because of the strong dollar. With the erosion of the USD$, Kauai real estate, including oceanfront property, is now a relative bargain to Canadian and European investors.

Aloha and welcome to my new blog, part of the Aloha Living Blog Network. I look forward to sharing with you both a professional and personal perspective on real estate in this area. Stay tuned!