Maui's housing market showed stability in March ahead of an expected downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
A recent report from the Realtors Association of Maui showed that the number of sales didn't budge much last month while median prices rose considerably.
There were 89 single-family houses sold in March, down 7% from 96 in the same month last year.
Condominium sale volume edged up 3% to 159 units last month from 154 a year earlier.
Typically, completed sales reported in a given month reflect signed purchase agreements made one to three months before. So, impacts from recent dramatic statewide efforts to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus have yet to show in home purchase data.
Some local residential real estate brokers expect an upcoming downturn in home sales and possibly prices because of severe job losses, reduced work hours, dried-up tourism and social distancing requirements.
The Realtors Association of Maui also noted in its March report that lenders began tightening underwriting standards amid the pandemic and that some buyers found they no longer were approved for a loan.
"While the effect of COVID-19 is varied throughout the country, we are likely to see impacts to housing activity now and into the coming months," the trade group of real estate agents in Maui County said in the report.
In March the median sale price for single-family homes on Maui, Molokai and Lanai jumped 18% to $840,000 from $712,718 a year earlier. The condo sale median price was up 9% to $555,000 from $508,500.
The median price is a point at which half the sales were at a higher price and half at a lower price. This measure can be influenced by the size, age, location and quality of homes sold.
Maui's home sale statistics include transactions of previously owned homes as well as new homes sold by developers.
At the high end of the market, one single-family home in Kapalua sold for $6.4 million last month compared with two sales for a median $2.2 million a year earlier in the same area.
At the low end of the market, there were six sales on Molokai for a median $429,000 last month compared with six sales for a median $195,000 a year earlier.
