Real estate sales remain strong on the Big Island, however, the number of available units in North Kona and South Kohala continues to plummet.
As of Nov. 30, just 124 units, which includes homes, condos and land, were for sale in North Kona and 88 in South Kohala, compared to 401 and 200, respectively, in November 2020. These are the lowest number of available units since Realtor Gretchen Osgood began keeping records of multiple listing services data in 2004
In Kona, 88 units sold with an additional 174 in escrow in November, with nearly 40% being cash sales.
The lack of inventory of homes and condos has also fueled land sales.
“People were coming and couldn’t find houses that they wanted to buy so they started buying up the land. We watched our land availability drop dramatically. We only have 48 lots available in Kona,” said Osgood.
And, it’s resulting in climbing prices for real estate in West Hawaii.
In November, the average home sale in Kona was $1.2 million compared to nearly $1.25 million in Nov. 2020. The median price for a home in Kona in November was $840,000.
“As of Nov. 30 nothing for sale today, fee simple or lease hold under $500,000 in Kona. The cheapest is listed at $550,000 in Queen Liliuokalani subdivision,” said Osgood.
Condos saw a major jump in sales price with November’s average in Kona at $940,670 compared to $644,316 in 2020. Median prices jumped from $387,500 to $460,000.
South Kohala saw average property sold rates drop in November to $1.2 milliuon from $1.5 million in 2020. However, the median price increased from $642,500 to $865.000. Meanwhile, the average sale price of a condo in the district increased 8% from $977,186 to just over $1 million.
Most properties listed on the market are getting their asking price, and many are going quick, sometimes within less than a day or even before being listed.
“Almost everything I sold this year was over asking. Two of them have been over $100,000 over asking and we are taking average homes,” she said.
Osgood said travel and other emergency restrictions implemented amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic did not hamper sales.
“We did a lot more sight unseen, we’re still doing a lot of it now,” she said.
The majority of buyers as of late, Osgood said, appear to be transplants to Kona, purchasing units to live in rather than as investment properties.
“I’m not seeing so many second homes. People are talking about selling the mainland home and buying one here,” she said, noting the availability of remote work.
Osgood said there are no current statistics available to track how many of the properties sold were occupied by renters, or operated as short-term vacation rentals.
The real estate market regularly fluctuates on the Big Island, and according to Osgood, whose been tracking the market for more than 16 years, this is not the first time she has seen this trend.
“This is not unique. I saw it in 2005. It happened in the 80s too,” she recalled, explaining that after transactions peaked in 2004, the market tapered off in 2005 as prices became too high for many buyers. “Then we take the first big chunk down in 2006” when the housing market crashed.
Osgood anticipates with nearly a month left to go in 2021, overall sales in North Kona and South Kohala could surpass previous records.
“We’re going to be over 1,400 overall sales this year. Historically, there are more years where we don’t clear 1,000 than we do,” she said.
Only three other years has North Kona/South Kohala exceeded that number: 2003, ‘04 and ‘05, added Osgood.
Islandwide, the number of homes sold through the end of September has already exceeded the number of homes sold in all of 2019, prior to the start of the pandemic.
Islandwide, 4,392 homes had sold this year as of Sept. 30, according to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. That figure is already up 13% over the 3,889 of homes sold in all of 2019, and there’s still three months worth of sales to be added to the tally for 2021.
Through September, the majority of the homes sold on the Big Island have been purchased by residents at 2,590. Another 1,749 have been purchased by people from the mainland and 53 by foreign buyers.
During the third quarter, July to September, the average price of a single-family home was just under $561,000 and a condo just over $790,000, up from $491,000 and $519,000, respectively, in the third quarter of 2020. Residents paid an average of $397,204 for a home, mainland buyers $958,321 and foreign purchasers $1.65 million.
Compared to 2020, the quarter saw 30% more transactions than 2020. Condo sales were up nearly 78% from 2020 and single-family home sales up 27.3%.
