Lynda Gill’s Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii Real Estate at Pacific Ocean Properties

“Kauai sees housing market surge in April”

“Maui condo prices up 18% in April as volume rises”

“Oahu home prices up in April, but sales volume drops”

“Hawaii Big Island condos see prices, sales gain”

File these under “Headlines I Like To See!!!”  These headlines appeared in a Hawaii Business publication that’s widely read here on the islands.  For the month of April home sales on Kauai rose and median prices soared by double-digits, statistics are taken right from our local MLS.

I SOLD Regency Villas #211 Fee Simple 2 bedroom 2 bath for $477,500. Amenities include air-conditioning, washer/dryer, granite counter tops, upgraded furnishings, travertine tile, and more.

The median price of a single-family home on Kauai in April was $680,000, a 60 percent jump from $425,000 last year. That was based on 29 sales, up from 27 sales in April of last year. Nine of those sales were in the Koloa district, where the median price more than doubled to $825,000 in April, from $400,000 last year.

The median price of a condominium on Kauai jumped by 49 percent to $312,000 from $209,665. That was based on sales of 33 units, compared to 23 units sold during the same month last year.

I’m always careful to note that these are broad headlines and while they help sell all properties island wide you need to dig in with your Realtor on your specific property that you own or are interested in.  Last week Kauai continued the trend of more properties going into escrow and selling then coming on the market.  I sold a Regency Villas 2 bedroom 2 bath unit of $477,500.  This unit had all the bells and whistles; air conditioning, granite counter tops, travertine tile, fantastic furnishings and window treatments.  This unit had previously sold for $784,500 in November of 2008 and had sold for $600,000 in May of 2005.  Its deals like these that are dominating the sales island wide.

For a list of what sold, went into escrow and came on the market island wide for last week CLICK HERE FOR SPREADSHEET

Hawaii Hotel Occupancy Rises For All Islands

Beautiful Waikiki with Diamond Head in the background. Taken from the grounds of The Royal Hawaiian Hotel

Last week the hotel occupancy went up 11% and Oahu was in the top 25 markets in the nation for occupancy and room rate increases.  I was in Oahu last week and I heard from a taxi driver that the 3^rd largest convention was in town, makes sense because when I went to book my hotel a month ago several were 100% booked.

So that explains that Oahu hotels were at 83.9% occupancy but the rest of the islands rose in occupancy as well. Kauai saw the largest gains at 67.3% which is 14% higher than last year.  Maui was second in occupancy gains of 12.1% giving them 71.5% occupancy and the Big Island was 4.6 higher than last year and had a 51.5% occupancy rate.

Air New Zealand To Add Auckland to Honolulu Flight

Air New Zealand plans to add an additional weekly flight between Auckland and Honolulu between October and March.  The airline is also upgrading the aircraft used to fly this route to a larger Boeing 777-200 between the months of June 1 and Sept. 1.

Hawaiian Airlines Adds Flights Between Hawaii and Japan AND Changes Their Baggage Rules

Pending government approval Hawaiian Airlines plans to add flights between Hawaii and the Japanese city of Sapporo in November. This flight will run 3 times a week and is the fourth city in Japan to have a flight to Honolulu. The flights to Sapporo, which is known for its ski resorts, will add about 41,000 new air seats between Hawaii and Japan, and restore nonstop service to northern Japan that was discontinued by other airlines in 2003.

Hawaiian Airlines also changed their baggage policy due to Federal transportation requirements.  Passengers who book their interisland flights separately between Honolulu and the mainland will need to collect their bags and exit security at Honolulu  then put their bags through agricultural inspection and recheck them before going through security again. Hawaiian Airlines states this affect the majority of the airline’s passenger because most fly on a single-itinerary ticket.

This begins June 1, 2012

Superferry Update

“Whatever happened to the Superferrys?”  I get that question from time to time and now I have an answer.

The two high-speed ferries built for the shuttered Hawaii Superferry were renamed last  Tuesday by the vessels’ new owner — the U.S. Navy.  The Alakai and the Huakai were renamed the USNS Guam and the USNS Puerto Rico.  They will be used for peacetime operations such as troop transport training, exercise missions and humanitarian and disaster relief.