Image by Ken Lund via Flickr
The Big Island real estate market, which is physically the largest in the state of Hawaii, saw a dropping median sales price but increasing sales volume in the most recent tracking period. According to statistics reported by the Honolulu Star Advertiser, the average Big Island home for sale cost a total of $230,900 in March of 2011, marking a twenty two percent decrease from the median of $297,500 measured in 2010. Similarly, the average Big Island condominium was sold for just $227,500 in March, representing a decline of twenty four percent from the same time last year, when the median sales price was $298,000. There were one hundred and sixty six detached single family home sales on the Big Island in March 2011, a substantial increase of about twenty six percent from the one hundred and thirty two recorded in March 2010. At the same time, there were seventy seven condos sold on the Big Island in March, which was more than fifty percent more than the fifty measured at the same time last year. The same statistics from the Hawaii Information Service were reported by Pacific Business News, which noted that.
The median sales price of Big Island properties might drop again in upcoming months if the rate of foreclosure rebounds. According to statistics reported by the Honolulu Star Advertiser, there were less than seven hundred foreclosures across the entirety of the Aloha State in March 2011, which was less than half of the figure during August 2010. The Big Island had the worst foreclosure rate in March, with one foreclosure filing for every three hundred and ninety seven properties. That equated to a total of two hundred and three foreclosures in March 2011, although some projections suggested that the number of foreclosures would rally in upcoming months. Several other states have experienced temporary lulls in foreclosure activity, only to be followed by a sever uptick. If this happens in Hawaii, it will be even more difficult to clear the shadow inventory of homes off the market.
