The Kauai real estate market is showing mixed signals, including increasing home sales and declining median prices. According to a June 7, 2010 article in the Pacific Business News, “Single-family home sales on Kauai were up by 80 percent in May, while condo sales were up 38 percent compared to the same month last year. There were 27 homes sold on the Garden Isle last month, up from 15 in May of 2009, according to statistics from Hawaii Information Service. The median price for a single-family home, however, fell 30 percent in May to $420,000, down from $600,000 in May 2009. Condo sales were up last month, with 18 units sold compared to 13 units sold in May 2009. But the median price dropped 50 percent to $164,000, down from $330,000 in 2009. Year-to-date, prices in both categories were down 11 percent. The median price of a single-family home in Kauai was $468,500, and the median price of a condo was $264,350. Sales in both categories, however, soared when compared to the January-May period in 2009. Year-to-date sales of single-family homes, with 140 sold, were up 71 percent over the first five months of 2009, while the 89 condo units sold were 65 percent more than what sold during the same period in 2009.”
However, one prime example of Kauai real estate – not a Kauai home for sale but a large mixed-use project, continues to move forward. A June 11, 2010 report from the Pacific Business News by Jon Letman noted that “Despite an economic downturn lasting three years, Kauai’s largest real estate development continues to move forward, transforming Kauai’s South Shore. Kukuiula, a 1,010-acre project spearheaded by the Kukuiula Development Co. Hawaii LLC, a collaboration between DMB Associates Inc. and A&B Properties Inc., combines luxury resort residences, a 90,000-square-foot retail village, an 18-hole Tom Weiskopf golf course, clubhouse, spa and cottage-style visitor accommodations. In 2008 and 2009, new roads, a congestion-reducing traffic roundabout, beachside public parking and the Kukuiula Village retail center all came online, proving to skeptics that Kukuiula Development Co. and its partners had the staying power to survive the economic downturn. By the end of last year, the first golf holes, dotted with dozens of newly planted mature coconut palms, could be seen from the Ala Kalanikaumaka bypass built for the project.”