Home Sales Rise in Hawaii and Drop Nationally

Single-family home sales decreased by 7.6 percent from November to December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. There was an exception, and that was in the West, consisting of California and Hawaii. Home sales actually rose by 5.2 percent.

Data taken from the U.S. Department of Commerce are regional and not broken down by state. There was plenty of variation regionally, especially where new home sales were concerned. In the Northeast, new home sales rose 42.9 percent but fell 41.1 percent in the Midwest and 7.3 percent in the South.

Nationwide, home sales fell 22.9 percent to 374,000 as opposed to 485,000 in 2008.

It's refreshing to see Hawaii numbers a step above the rest of the country. Lately, we've gotten accustomed to seeing the opposite. It is possible that housing trends move in waves and there is simply a delay in those trends reaching the West, but it's just a theory.

Maui Home Sales specializes in Kapalua condo sales. Right now, homes for sale in Kaanapali include some excellent buys, and don't forget to use our online real estate search tool to find real estate meeting your specific criteria. As always, don't hesitate to contact me by email at robert@mauihomesales.com or call 808-662-0003. Mahalo for reading this week!

Hawaiian Airlines to Add Airbus to Fleet

Hawaiian Airlines is certainly thriving, based on the recent news that they have 27 new Airbus A330-200 aircraft to be delivered to Honolulu. The first one will arrive in April and a second will join the fleet in May and a third in November. The first two will serve the LA-Honolulu route beginning in June.

What makes an A330 different from the usual aircraft that Hawaiian operates? They seat 294 passengers and have LCD touch-screen entertainment monitors installed in each seatback. These craft represent a serious investment on the part of Hawaiian Air, the extent of which indicates that it really is a safe bet they aren't struggling for money. Getting new aircraft is one thing, but getting 27 A330's is in a whole different league.

Hawaiian isn't being irresponsibly extravagant, however. The A330 offer improved fuel efficiency which means they will cost less to operate in their range of 6,050 nautical miles. The craft can fly nonstop to all of North America and points in East Asia. As for where Hawaiian is getting them from, the Airbus are built in a factory in France.

Aside from the impressive addition of 27 A330's to their fleet, Hawaiian has also signed a purchase agreement with Airbus to acquire six wide-body A330-200 aircraft starting in 2012 and six A350-800 extra-wide-body aircraft starting in 2017. Their confidence must be very reassuring to their employees.
 

On the hunt for Maui real estate? There are beautiful Maui oceanfront land sale listings that you may be interested in exploring. Homes for sale in Kapalua include some excellent buys, and don't forget to use our online real estate search tool to find real estate meeting your specific criteria. As always, don't hesitate to contact me by email at robert@mauihomesales.com or call 808-662-0003. Mahalo for reading this week!

Maui Real Estate Sales High in December

In December, condo sales more than doubled and prices fell by over 15 percent. Home sales in Maui County were 64 percent higher this past December than the one before it! What an enormous change.

Ninety single-family homes sold including 89 on Maui and one on Lanai. Last year in December, there were only 55 home sales. The median price of a home last month was down 16 percent from $570K last December to $477K this past December. It will be interesting to follow the number of sales in the future and watch the prices change.

As for condos, there were 80 sold this past December and 38 the one before. Prices were $401,500 in December as opposed to $517K in December '08.

For 2009 as a whole, condo sales rose by 4 percent. In '08 there were 790 sold and in '09 there were 824. Home sales dropped by 24 percent, however. There were 910 sales in '08 and 693 in '09. The median price for a home dropped by 14 percent. The median price was $577,774 in '08 and $498,106 in '09. 

So sales are climbing and prices are dropping, now it's time to see where the two stabilize.

As for Maui real estate, get them while listing prices are low. Explore the excellent selection of Maui oceanfront land for sale and Kaanapali homes on the market now. And don't forget about our online Maui MLS search tool. As always, don't hesitate to contact me by email at robert@mauihomesales.com or call 808-662-0003. Mahalo for reading this week!

Free Talk on Maui Forest Birds

A free slide talk on the recovery of Maui's forest birds will be held on the 21st this month at the Hannibal Tavares Community Center's pool-side multi-purpose room.

Maui's native and endangered bird species include some recent success stories. The talk focuses on those whose numbers are recovering from near extinction.

Kelly Iknayan, Ornithological Research Assistant with the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project, will be presenting. Accompanying the talk will be visually informative slides that should really help immerse the audience with a more thorough understanding of these birds.

The talk is at 7p.m. and if you need any more information, check out www.mauiforestbirds.org. The talk has been kindly sponsored by  Friends of Haleakala National Park. For more info on them, you can visit www.fhnp.org.

The Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project (MFBRP) has been working to protect our native birds since 1997. It seems they are stepping up their efforts to educate and inform the public in order to foster understanding and participation, thus maintaining the excellent momentum and progress they've made so far.

Well done MFBRP and keep it up!

Maui Home Sales specializes in Maui oceanfront homes. Right now, homes for sale in Kaanapali include some excellent buys, and don't forget to use our online real estate search tool to find real estate meeting your specific criteria. As always, don't hesitate to contact me by email at robert@mauihomesales.com or call 808-662-0003. Mahalo for reading this week!

Maui Class on Meeting Your Business Goals

Start off the new year attending a class on meeting your goals in business! This is a great way to see through with your new year's resolutions.

This one is taught by Leslie Mullens of PLAYBOOK and will lead you through a seven step process to build plans that will carry you through the next twelve months.

The class focuses on isolating challenges that you might have, figuring out their solutions and how to achieve success in the shifting economy that we are immersed in. The prized skills in these conditions are the ability to innovate and improvise so you can adapt to change. Although the class is oriented toward business, you may find that its lessons apply to your personal life as well.

This class will be held on Tuesday, January 12 from noon to 1p.m. at the Maui County Business Resource Center in the Maui Mall.

 In many cases, we start out with all kinds of great ideas for what we're going to accomplish in the coming year, but all too often, those things aren't done! Why is that? Probably the biggest saboteur of goals is lack of discipline or lack of a schedule to keep you on course. If you can correct these pitfalls, you are probably a good deal ahead of the crowd.

On the hunt for Maui real estate? There are beautiful Maui oceanfront land sale listings that you may be interested in exploring. Homes for sale in Kapalua include some excellent buys, and don't forget to use our online real estate search tool to find real estate meeting your specific criteria. As always, don't hesitate to contact me by email at robert@mauihomesales.com or call 808-662-0003. Mahalo for reading this week!