The Wailea Makena real estate market, an upscale portion of the larger Maui housing market, has retained a high median sale price despite the overall stagnant trend of the rest of the Valley Island. An October 12, 2010 article from the Honolulu Star Advertiser noted that “Terry Tolman, chief executive of the Realtors Association of Maui, noted that prices aren't likely to rise until the considerable inventory of homes facing foreclosure or repossessed by lenders is absorbed. According to an analysis of Maui's economy last month by Hawaii Pacific University economics professor Leroy Laney for First Hawaiian Bank, median home prices are declining but at a lower rate this year than in 2009. At the high end there were four sales for a median $1.5 million in Wailea/Makena, compared with eight sales a year earlier for the same median price. The largest submarket for single-family homes on Maui is Central Maui, where there were 21 sales last month for a median $437,500. That compared with 13 sales for a median $427,000 a year earlier. On the lower end there were 11 sales in Kihei for $381,000 last month, compared with 11 sales a year earlier for a median $450,000. On the high end there were five sales in Wailea/Makena for a median $3.9 million. There were no single-family home sales in Wailea/Makena in September 2009.”

Makena homes for sale and other Maui properties continue to face the difficulties associated with high foreclosure rates, according to a November 4, 2010 article from the Lahaina News. The report by Mark Vieth stated that “Fear arrives in the mail at hundreds of Maui households each month. In September in West Maui, for example, 71 homeowners received letters that their houses went into foreclosure. RealtyTrac reported 338 Maui foreclosures in September and 1,617 new filings in the state that month. Hawaii has a non-judicial foreclosure law (HRS 667) that gives mortgage companies the authority to foreclose on a property without court approval. If an owner falls behind two months on house payments, the mortgage company can simply submit an affidavit to the state Bureau of Conveyances to be stamped, received and filed.”