Buying a Home on Kauai, Hawaii – End of January 2023 vs 2022 Statistics

For the first time the number and price of Kauai home sales ended in a negative. We’re looking at the Kauai real estate data for the end of January 2023 and comparing that to the end of January 2022. Over the many years and different market conditions that I’ve been doing these reports the data for the first couple of months is never solid enough to have an accurate read but this year is the strangest one yet.

Low Inventory

Here’s what I mean: In 2022 at the end of January there were 52 homes sold island wide, at the end of last month only 16 homes had sold. The South Shore had sold 9 homes in the month of January and last month only 3 were sold. The North Shore went from 17 sold in 2022 to 4. Lihue was even with 2 homes sold at the end of January for both years. As with the rest of the nation, the dramatic decline of sales is due to the extremely low amount of inventory.

And what a difference in the real estate climate for these two years. In January of 2022 the real estate market was full court press with interest rates around 3% and low inventory. But in January 2023 our interest rates are more than double what they were and the inventory is even lower. Of the 52 homes that sold in 2022 29 of them were under $1 million, in 2023 out of the 16 homes that sold 11 were under a million. The buyers are there, but the inventory isn’t.

What we are seeing this year as opposed to last are Sellers adjusting their prices to match the current comps which we did not see last year. A year ago the listing price just got bumped up higher than the last sale and the Seller got their number and got it fast, now it has to match the comps and the numbers show this: The Median Sale Price to the original list price at the end of January 2022 was 100% meaning no price adjustments. In 2023 95.1% sale price to original list price signifying that price changes have been adjusted.

Median Price on Kauai

Now for the numbers: The median price for a home on the island of Kauai is $809,500 compared to $945,000 last year which is down -14.34%. On the South Shore we went from $1.2 million to $955,000 which is a 20.42% drop. North shore had a slight change at $2.3 in 2022 to 2,185,000 in 2023. Lihue was less than a 1 percent change at $777,000 last year now at $775,000 which is down 0.26.

If you would like to know how these numbers relate to your particular area of interest you are welcome to give me a call. If you would like to have Kauai Real Estate information delivered directly to your inbox every week you can sign up here: https://conta.cc/3scxsX4

Aloha!
Lynda Gill RS Lic 63088
Hawaii Life
808.346.0056