Part 3 of 4
Though Dr Yun agreed that real estate is local, especially when it comes to vacation home sales, he provided current statistics for nationwide second home sales. While these national figures do not in any way represent the median statistics for West Hawaii vacation home property sales, they are interesting.
Median sales price – $679,000
Median number of miles from primary residence – 348
Percentage of buyers who purchase with financing – 70%
Median buyer income – $87,500
Second home real estate prices are much higher in West Hawaii, especially those neighborhoods which allow short term rentals. Of course our “miles from primary residence” is in the thousands. My educated guess is those buyers who purchase with financing, 70%, is about the same in our market. I believe the median buyer income for West Hawaii is significantly higher. Unfortunately, I am unable to separate second home sales and primary residences from our data. Even though the following numbers include primary residences, the data is still interesting. Here are sales statistics for North Kona and South Kohala (Kohala Coast resort) condos and single family (SF) January-August 2010 vs 2009.
Compared to 2009, sales are up and prices are down. Lower prices are most definitely encouraging sales. Second home owners buy almost all of the condos, and they have noticed the low prices. I attribute the high single family unit sales to locals buying homes in the spring with the now expired tax credit.
Tags: Kohala, second home, vacation home, west hawaii