Aloha, Friends, Family, and Clients,

The year 2021 was an incredible year for all real estate sales professionals Nationwide, and in my case, it was record-breaking with your support, encouragement, and aloha. I earned the Coldwell Banker International Society of Excellence Award for 2021. This award is presented to individual sales associates/representatives who produce a minimum of $1,000,000 in Closed Adjusted Gross Commission Income or 160 Total Unit sales placing them in the top 1% of 94,300 agents among 3,000 offices in 3 countries and territories.

I was fortunate to have listing inventory when the flood gates opened in January, so the sales results followed. I also had buyers waiting for inventory and worked hard to find the few opportunities for purchases of their new homes on the Big Island. I call it the “now or never” sales boom where the “lookers” became buyers in 2021, with that trend continuing into 2022 even though prices in the sub $1m price range have doubled in some communities. For example, the Lehua plan within my community, Villages at Mauna Lani, sold for over $2m from around $1m in January 2021.

I believe 2022 will also be a great sales year, but the lack of inventory will slow the number of units sold, producing a lower $$$ sales volume. I’ve been through many up and down sales cycles since 1987, when I entered the Real Estate Sales business full time. I’m aware that extreme “up” markets sometimes usher in slower sales volume as everything reverts to the “mean” or average over time. I suspect prices will stay at their current levels for an extended period. The alternative to purchasing existing inventory has traditionally been to buy a building lot and construct a custom home. In other words, buy the parts and combine them at a lower total cost to achieve value. A few building lots are available in the current market, but the high construction costs could negate using this methodology to lower the “price of entry.” Buying a lower-priced property has been another option in the past. The minimum purchase has now increased from a minimum of $300k in 2019 for a 2-bedroom condo in the Waikoloa Beach Resort to $750k for the same property today.

I believe the Kohala Coast market was underpriced compared to many others in the State of Hawaii, especially Maui and others on the mainland. We did a lot of catch-up in the last 18 months, but despite this, I believe these values will hold for many months.

Thank you again to my Buyer and Seller clients for a great year in 2021!

Aloha,

Rick Oliver

Written by Rick Oliver on April 12, 2022
Posted in: Real Estate |