Hawaii Real Estate

The Hawaii real estate market, which has always been associated with expensive houses and luxurious residences, has recently shown greater appeal to wealthy sellers, both domestically and among Asian buyers. According to an October 18, 2010 report from Pacific Business News, “The recent auction of several luxury properties on Kauai’s North Shore is part of a growing trend to market high-end Hawaii homes that fetch multimillion dollar prices. The most high-profile sale was the $8.72 million sale of a home owned by entertainer Cher at the Four Seasons Hualalai Resort on the Big Island via Concierge Auctions. But at least five homes at Hualalai and at the neighboring private club Kukio have also sold at auction for prices ranging from $3.7 million to $5.1 million. The latest sale by Koa Properties and Concierge Auctions included a property known as the Villa at Secret Beach, a 3,104-square-foot home on four acres near the Kilauea Lighthouse on the North Shore of Kauai. The auctioneers didn’t disclose the price, but the property was previously on the market for $9.8 million. The seller, Michele Hughes of The Michele Hughes Co., says auctions are a preferred method these days for savvy sellers of high-end real estate.”

Despite a continued weakness among Hawaii homes for sale at large, Asian buyers of luxury real estate are beginning to show an encouraging interest in the luxury sector of the market. According to a September 23, 2010 report from the New York Times, “While sales of Hawaii’s luxury residential real estate are still down almost 60 percent from their peak in 2005, strong interest from Asian buyers eager to capitalize on value has begun to buoy the market. The recovering economy in Asia, favorable exchange rates and the realization that Hawaii’s luxury real estate prices are finally rising from last year’s low have renewed attention from potential buyers in Japan and South Korea and piqued interest in China , said Patricia Choi, president and broker in charge of Choi International, an agency in Honolulu… And, while home values still are about 8 percent less than their peak in 2005, they are slowly rising, she said. After Hawaii’s real estate bubble burst in the early 1990s, Asian buyers became less dominant, said Jeffrey Fox, another broker and owner at Kahala Associates. At that time, Asian buyers represented almost 90 percent of the state’s luxury market, but they dropped to about 11 percent last year, Mr. Fox said.”