February 2015

Found 6 blog entries for February 2015.

To kick off our 'Ask a Question' feature, below is a question asked by a client who is interested in building a Maui luxury home to use as a short term rental property.

Question:  I would like to purchase a vacant lot in Maui Meadows and build a home for vacation rentals. Is that allowed? And if so, when I sell the house, is the permit transferable to the new owner? Is there a value added for having the permit?

Answer: Great question(s). First, to give some background, The Short-Term Rental Home Ordinance 3941 became effective in May 2012, which in essence allows for single-family homes to apply to legally operate as vacation rentals. The ordinance effectively allocated a number of permits per district, which are as follows:

District

Typically our posts regarding the Honua Kai micro-market are much more in-depth, but the following information may be useful to some visitors and/or our clients, so we are posting it. 

We had a recent question from a Honua Kai prospective buyer, in which he wants to know whether there are discernible patterns occurring in the micro-market, and further broken down in niches - particular emphasis on 1 bedroom ocean view units and 2 bedroom ocean view units.

1 Honua Kai Bedroom Units

Take a look at the chart below, detailing the price per square foot of every ocean-view one bedroom unit sold - purposefully excluded the 1 bedroom + den to keep data most relevant. We added a polynomial trendline for context.

honua kai 1 bedroom chart

2 Bedroom Units

Take a look at

In the past years, we have received continuous interest in Kihei Villages condos for sale - after some preliminary questions, the biggest question is whether to opt for a ground level or a 2nd floor unit. There are tangible differences, both in terms of lifestyle value proposition and fair market value. 

In the interest of providing information to our clients and site visitors, below please find charts detailing the price per square foot of every sale at Kihei Villages in the past 24 months, broken down by floor level. 

kihei villages sales chart

As noted above, there is an absolute price difference in first floor versus second floor (approx. 7.5% historically over the trailing 24 months). As a caveat to potential buyers, under the current absorption of 3.83 units sold

**UPDATE: THIS UNIT HAS ALREADY SOLD SINCE PUBLISHING OF THIS POST. CONTACT US TO DISCUSS CURRENT INVENTORY**

For the most part, the Wailea condo market escaped the onslaught of bank-owned properties (REO's, 'foreclosures') that have marred the Kihei real estate market. Since 2009, Wailea has seen 30 REO condominiums sold (4.8% of total sales), compared to 290 in its northern neighbor of Kihei, which saw 290 REO condos absorbed (11.75% of total sales). In 2014, there was only REO condo for sale in Wailea - a 2 bedroom unit at the Grand Champions. 

As such, when a new listing of particular interest hit the market, it is worth strong consideration - and the listing of Kai Malu 13A certainly falls in this category. The gated community of Kai Malu has

andaz wailea villas

Picture above is of Villas B & C 

The introduction of Andaz Maui brought much excitement in the Wailea real estate market when it was announced that a number of Fee-Simple ownership opportunities would be offered - at the time there was much speculation as to the number, but 12 units were announced. These luxury villas are newly built, incorporate modern touches, offer five-star resort amenities while maximizing the splendor of the natural surrounding, with one of the best beaches in the world as its backyard.

The symbiotic relationship between the hotel component of the property and the privately-owned villas offers a very unique value proposition. Such a unique value coupled with lower absorption in the higher-end niche of the Maui condo

honua kai sales update

High season is here in full force and sales activity has been high since late December - anecdotally, speaking, as some of the sales from 'high season' activity will not consummate until later in the year. How has the recent influx in visitors affected the Honua Kai condo micro-market? First, read our Honua Kai 2014 Review and then put it into context with January's activity.

New Listings

Five new listings hit the market in January:

Hokulani 730 - The lowest priced 1 bedroom unit at time of listing, with an asking price of $765K. The large 765 square foot unit is on the outside perimeter of the Hokulani tower, facing the mountains. 

Konea 110 - On the ground-level, south-facing perimeter of the Konea tower, Konea 110 is priced at $859K. A