The 2020 real estate market was one for the record books with sellers first assuming the covid impact would be negative in the March-June period then getting whiplash as the market took off in a very positive direction in July. End of 2020, year over year, North Kona residential stats reveal those sellers were the most favored as they experienced an average of +21.45% higher sales volume, +20.38% higher median sales price and +9.91% more homes sold overall. The average sales price jumped from $650k to $782,500. North Kona was the most positive on the island by all accounting. In my opinion, this +20% year over year median sales price increase is unsustainable and 2021 will finish flat with no increase or maybe a slight decline due to more listing inventory.

Another area of interest for me is South Kohala especially resort condominiums as this is the predominate real estate type in the area. South Kohala total number of condominium transactions was -7.87% compared to 2019, probably due to lack of inventory. Seller’s typically list when they are here on island and there were few owners present the majority of the year. That is currently changing with many owners arriving daily. Despite fewer numbers of South Kohala condominiums being sold, the actual sales volume was up +26.18% compared to 2019 as existing inventory was sopped up including slow selling floor plans and communities if the properties were priced competitively. As an example, the Maile plans in The Villages at Mauna Lani, which typically take an extended days on market to sell were down to -0- units for sale recently. This is down from as many as 8 units for sale in July 2020. The average sales price for South Kohala condos was up a reasonable +10.75% year over year which is sustainable as there has been very little appreciation in the last 8-10 years.

Big Island real estate unit sales for all classes was up +9.51% despite low inventory. Overall 2020 sales volume was up +20.60%. The median sales price of all classes of real estate, Island wide, was up an unsustainable +17.82%. I predict 2021 will be a good year but prices will probably be flat overall as inventories increase as owners visit and place their properties on the market.

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Written by Rick Oliver on January 31, 2021
Posted in: Real Estate |