I have to admit, I enjoy the decorating part of the holiday season. Our parents put a lot of time and effort in to selecting the family Christmas tree and decking out the house every December. I always enjoy helping Billy and his family find and decorate their tree. Believe it or not, there are a few Christmas Tree farms on Maui. For the last few years, we have headed up to the Mea Makamae Ranch in Haiku to find our tree. If you recognize the name Mea Makamae, that is because the ranch also happens to be one of our listings. This stunning 38 acre estate has a small grove of Cook Pines. These tropical evergreens make for a hardy Christmas tree. The great thing about Cook Pines is that you can “top the tree” and new shoots grow out. Before too long a new “tree” grows in it’s place. Here is a video I shot and edited on my iPhone from our Christmas Tree excursion to Mea Makamae. I even added a cameo by Noodles the long eared reindeer.

The Christmas Tree farm is just one of the great features of Mea Makamae Ranch. Looking for a horse property? Mea Makamae has seven gated paddocks, an outdoor round pen and a tack room. The main house is a luxurious 4,200 square feet with a 2,400 square foot attached garage space. Amenities in the main home include a 1,000 square foot master suite and a gourmet kitchen. In addition to the main house, there is a beautiful 1,000 square foot cottage. The cottage combines classic Hawaiian Plantation Style with modern amenities.

This property sold! Contact The Maui Real Estate Team for assistance searching for other estate properties on Maui.

January 2021 – UPDATE: This condo is not currently listed for sale. You can check out our Sugar Cove page for current listings and information on the development.  You may also contact the Maui Real Estate Team to see if we might be able to help you find a willing seller.

If you are a regular reader of The Maui Real Estate Blog, chances are you have seen a few photos and videos from the beach at Sugar Cove in Spreckelsville. It is a favorite play ground for The Maui Real Estate Team. Whether it’s surfing, sup, kiting, windsurfing, body surfing, boogie boarding, taking in a sunset or just having a picnic, The Maui Real Estate Team and family enjoys playing along this stretch of North Shore coastline. Up until today, you haven’t heard us talk too much about real estate and Sugar Cove. Sugar Cove has a small 18 unit luxury condominium complex that is right on the beach. These condos seldom come on the market. That is why we are particularly excited to announce that we have listed a Sugar Cove Condo for Sale.

With over 2,000 square feet of beachfront living, this incredibly spacious, 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath condo feels like a home. The immaculate grounds at Sugar Cove offer a gated, private community with the feel of old Hawaii. Sugar Cove is walking distance to the Maui Country Club and close to Pa’ia shopping and restaurants, the airport and other island amenities.

In a recent post on our blog, I took a look at Maui 2011 Ultra Luxury Real Estate Sales. Thus far, Kapalua and West Maui Oceanfront appear to be the hot locales for this year’s ultra luxury buyers. Today, we wanted to highlight a spectacular West Maui oceanfront home. The views, setting, construction and pricing make this one of the better Maui oceanfront luxury values.

This exclusive gated two-story oceanfront estate is best described as contemporary elegance with Asian influences. Generously spread across 5,661 sq. ft. of living area between the main home and ohana, the estate is situated on a 20,705 sq. ft. lot. The main home offers 5 bedrooms & 5.5 bathrooms. The attached studio ohana is separated from the main home by the 2-car garage. The highest level of craftsmanship and appointments are discovered throughout the estate including antique redwood Thai doors, teak furnishings, palm wood floors, Noche-Night finished travertine tiled lanai. Mahogany wood is captured in accents & construction including pitched ceilings, stairway railings and recessed ceiling panels. Fully integrated audio and security systems allude to the modernization of the estate. Outdoor amenities include an oceanfront pond-like pool, Jacuzzi spa and outdoor shower. This wonderful West Maui Oceanfront Estate is offered fully furnished.

This home is listed through Maui Estates International for $7,810,000. This home sold. Check out the current inventory of Maui Oceanfront Homes for Sale. Contact the Maui Real Estate Team for assistance with your search for an oceanfront property.

Over the last moth, Maui has seen a handful of ultra luxury home sales. This apparent uptick in luxury sales spurred me to take a look at how the Maui Ultra Luxury Real Estate Market is fairing for the first part of 2011. I thought it was worth comparing the the sales figures to date for this year with what we saw during the same period of 2010. The first half of 2010 proved to be significant for the Maui Luxury Real Estate Market. Sales volume increased steadily from the doldrums of 2009 and new records were set for the highest purchase prices for both single family family homes and condominiums. Has the 2011 market been able to keep pace with the 2010 market? A comparison of the 2010 and 2011 sales numbers may be seen below followed by a few observations and comments.

The term luxury home is pretty subjective. There are some properties on Maui that offer luxurious amenities under $1,000,000. That being said, the focus of this post is what I call the ultra luxury market segment. I am defining ultra luxury as homes with a purchase price of $5,000,000 or greater and condos with a purchase price of $3,000,000 or more.

*Pending sales were estimated based on closing dates. It was difficult to estimate pending sales for condos for 2010 so no number is provided.

At this point, sales volume for ultra luxury homes is slightly higher than what we were seeing in 2010. Sales volume for ulta luxury condos is significantly lower. The home sales are somewhat of a surprise as there has been less fanfare associated with this years ultra luxury market. I surmise that the 2010 sales garnered more attention for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, the 2010 market garnered more publicity largely due to the sale of a couple properties. The sale of 4472 Makena Road for over $19,850,000 opened a lot of eyes and drew more attention to the luxury segment. The spotlight grew brighter with another $17 million dollar plus property currently under contract just down the beach at 4544 Makena Road. The 2010 sales also generated more press because they came on the heels of the relatively limited luxury activity of 2009.

What caused the big dip in ulta luxury condo activity? For those that are regular readers of my unofficial Maui Real Estate Statistics, you may be familiar with a term that we coined called the Honua Kai Effect. Honua Kai is a new condo development that was recently completed in Ka’anapali. There have been over 350 new developer Honua Kai closes in the last two and a half years. Many of those closes were based on contracts that were inked pre-construction back in 2005-2006. The Honua Kai Effect refers to the bump in sales numbers that we see when there are a lot of long term new developer contract Honua Kai closes. The ultra luxury condo market saw a pronounced Honua Kai effect during the first half of 2010. There were fifteen $3,000,000 + Honua Kai long term closes from January 2010 through late May of 2010. There were two additional closes at The Residences at Kapalua Bay during that time period. While the 2010 numbers were boosted significantly by Honua Kai, the 2011 numbers received no such boost. There have been no long term ultra luxury closes reported at Honua Kai this year. This helps to account for the big decrease in ultra luxury condo sales when comparing the two years.

The one other thing that stands out about the ultra luxury market is a shift in the geography of where the big home sales are occurring. The Makena market made the most noise in 2010. All three luxury home sales and one of the pending home sales for 2010 were in the Makena area. There was one sale pending in Kapalua and one sale pending on the North Shore. Fast forward to 2011 and there have been no sales in Makena to date. There has been one sale in Wailea, two in Kapalua and one in the Mahinahina area of West Maui. The four pending sales include two on the North Shore of Maui, another Wailea home and a Napili Oceanfront home. It is worth noting that one of the North Shore homes that is pending is the same one that was pending in 2010. That property is currently tied up between the courts and the banks.

Does this shift in geography have any significance? Are Kapalua Homes the hot item for Ultra Luxury buyers? Has the luster of Makena diminished? While the easy route would be to make a sensationalistic claim, the sample size is just way too limited to extrapolate too much from this sales shift. The fact is that both resort communities offer amenities that are compelling for ultra luxury buyers. For that matter, there are estates on all corners of the island that may appeal to ultra luxury buyers. If you are in the market to buy or sell a luxury property on Maui, we would be happy to offer representation. We offer the discretion, market knowledge and overall service desired by high net worth clients. Contact The Maui Real Estate Team today for prompt professional service.

Yesterday I posted the first installment of our 2010 Maui Luxury Real Estate Statistics. While that post looked at the statistics island wide, today I am looking at sales volume at a community level followed by some thoughts on the the stats and the state of the overall luxury market.

As noted on the previous post, the luxury home market saw a pretty healthy increase in sales volume. The table and the graph below show how luxury home sales compared between 2009 and 2010 at a community level. They also give you an indication of which communities saw the greatest demand from high end buyers.

2010 and 2009 Maui Home Sales Over two million by community

The condo market saw a very modest increase in sales year to year. The table and graph below breaks down luxury condominium sales at a community level. It is worth noting that the statistics for this segment of the luxury market need context. I will delve into this in greater detail during my commentary, but in general condo sales are skewed by new development sales based on long terms contracts.

2010 and 2009 Maui Condo Sales over One and half million by community

There is a lot of data to discuss between my two posts on luxury real estate statistics. I figured I would start with the luxury home market. Looking at the total sales numbers, the home market showed a healthy bounce back from the lows of the 2009 sales season. The resort communities of Wailea/Makena and Kapalua in particular led the charge. Both communities saw a 100% or better increase in sales volume year to year. Much of the growth in Wailea and Kapalua was at the highest price points of the market. Ten of the sales in Wailea/Makena were over three million dollars while 5 of the Kapalua sales were over three million. Upcountry is another area that saw a pretty healthy increase in sales year to year with a 200% increase in luxury sales.

It is also worth taking a moment to discuss some of the communities that saw luxury homes sales decrease. While two of the resort communities prospered in 2010, Ka’anapali saw a decrease in sales over $2,000,000. I am not sure that I can give a specific reason behind the lower sales volume at Ka’anapali. I would surmise part of the reason may be price decreases. Inventory that peaked over two million in Ka’anapali may have slipped beneath that threshold. Also, there is less three million plus inventory in Ka’anapali. Much of the surge in resort community buying was done above $3,000,000. The North Shore was another area where sales were down slightly. It is notable that two of the Upcountry sales were in a subdivision that closely borders the North Shore. Maunaolu Plantation is located between Paia and Makawao, but is classified as Makawao. Were those two sales to be attributed to the North Shore, that part of the island would have seen a slight increase in yearly sales.

Over the last five years condominium sales figures have been driven by new development sales. Many of the sales that were recorded in 2009 and 2010 were at Honua Kai in Ka’anapali. These closes were based on long term developer contracts that were originally inked four years prior. I have dubbed this the Honua Kai effect in a number of previous posts on Maui Real Estate statistics. This means that the sales numbers can give an inflated sense of current market demand. That being said, it appears that the impact was fairly equal both years with 49 long term new developer closes recorded in 2009 and 50 recorded in 2010. Ka’anapali’s position as the epicenter of luxury condo sales on the island can also be attributed to this development. New developments in general remained popular even if the contracts were shorter term. Hoolei has been a popular offering over the last two years. It was particularly big in 2009 with 14 new developer closes. That number shrank to 7 this year due in part to a decreased inventory. Papali and The Residences at Kapalua Bay are two other condominiums where new developer offerings contributed to the statistics.

Is there a reason why condos failed to mirror the growth that we saw in home sales? I can’t see anything at the surface that screams out to me. Lanai contributed more in 2009 due in part to big developer incentives, but that still only generated an additional four sales. We may also be seeing some of the inventory that had sold in the million and a half range slipping back under that threshold as the market adjusts. While the condo market failed to see the big boost in overall sales volume, it did mirror one aspect of the luxury home market. The area where activity increased the most was at the highest ends of the market. While there was only one close over five million in 2009, there were nine sales over five million in 2010.

I didn’t do a geographic breakdown of the land market in this post, but I thought it was worth a few comments. This market slid significantly from last year. I am not sure if I have a single reason that would explain the full extent of this shift. The 2009 numbers were bolstered by 11 sales at two new Makena land developments. That helps to explain some of the difference, but not all. Part of it may just be inventory and opportunities. The land market in general is very slow. Regardless of price point, the only lots that seem to be moving are those that are truly special or those that offer tremendous value. Luxury land buyers may not have seen as many opportunities in 2010.

Overall, this proved to be an interesting year for Maui luxury real estate. I have heard some claim that prices for the luxury market on Maui have hit bottom. I am not sure I can agree at this point. I think that sentiment is due in part to the new highest ever sales prices for a single family residence and a condo. It is clear that there are ultra high end buyers in the market who are willing to pay an absolute premium for extraordinary properties. That being said, the statistics point to other segments of the luxury market that remain relatively soft. There are communities and neighborhoods in the luxury market that have an abundance of inventory. An area like Ka’anapali comes to mind. There are currently 30 homes listed for over two million in Ka’anapali. Over the last two years, there have only been 5 sales in Ka’anapali in that price range. This strikes me as being a classic scenario conducive to additional price adjustments. Ka’anapali isn’t the only community in this situation. Even in the very desirable Makena, there is the Makena Place oceanfront development where half the homes are on the market. I think it truly comes down to supply and demand. Luxury communities or neighborhoods that offer limited but quality inventory will garner the most interest and hold value better over the next 12 months. Those communities and neighborhoods that have substantial inventory will need to adjust prices to attract today’s luxury buyers.

The 2011 luxury home market has the potential to continue to grow in volume. Solid visitor numbers and the strength of the Canadian dollar will help. Luxury condo resales may also see an uptick, but the overall sales volume may not reflect any improvements. Any increases will be more than offset by the lack of long term new development closes in the current pipeline. Most of the long term contracts at Honua Kai have closed at this point. The land market remains an enigma. The volume for the coming year will largely depend on the quality and value of listings that come on the market over the next twelve months. I should have some additional Maui real estate statistics posts to share over the next week on the Maui Real Estate Blog. In the interim, please feel free to contact the Maui Real Estate Team with questions or for assistance.

With the new year tomorrow, we figured we would get a jump on looking back on the 2010 Maui Real Estate statistics. After the first of the year, I will be posting my unofficial 2010 December statistics, a look back at the 2010 year end statistics as well as the statistics for a few specific communities. Over the last couple of days, I spent some time looking at the numbers for the Maui luxury market. There was quite a bit of fanfare associated with the luxury market this year due to some high profile closes. During the spring we saw the highest ever sales prices for a single family residence and a condominium at $19,850,000 and $12,500,000 respectively. Add in another home sale at $17,500,000 and it is easy to see why some were proclaiming the return of boom times at the very high end of the market.

While those three sales were significant, we entered the year with a substantial luxury inventory. Has the luxury market really rebounded? Were these sales isolated or were they part of a broader recovery? The following is an attempt to go beyond the anecdotal evidence and take a quantitative look at the luxury market. This is part I of a two part blog post detailing the luxury market statistics. The first part will detail general sales volume statistics for homes, condos and land. The second will include a look at luxury sales in specific communities and resorts followed by some thoughts and analysis on the luxury market.

There were 41 homes sold over two million dollars on Maui in 2010. This includes two sales we are aware of that did not involve Realtors. This compares to thirty-two homes sold over two million in 2009. This is a 28% increase in sales volume year to year. Properties priced over two million include a pretty broad spectrum of homes ranging from gated executive homes in resort communities to premier oceanfront estates. It was interesting to break things down further to get a better sense of what price ranges saw the biggest increases year by year. The chart below gives you an idea.

Comparison of Luxury Home Sales Volume between 2009 and 2010

Of the 41 homes that were sold in 2010 over two million, 17 homes sold between two and three million and 14 of the homes sold had a sales price equal to or greater than three million and less than five million. Eight homes closed at prices between five million and ten million and 2 homes sold for more than ten million. This compares to the 2009 numbers of 18 homes sold between two million and three million and 6 homes sold between three million and five million. In 2009, there were 3 homes sold between five million and ten million and 1 for more than ten million.

There were 112 condos sold in 2010 on Maui priced at one and a half million or more. This compares to 110 sales for the same price range in 2009. This translates to a 1.8% increase in sales year to year. As with the home numbers above, I also broke down these numbers to show a little more granularity of where there may have been any shifts in activity.

Comparison of Maui Luxury Condo Sales volume between 2009 and 2010

Of the 112 condos that were sold in 2010 over one and a half million, 77 condos sold between one and a half and three million. There were 27 condos that sold between three and five million. There were 8 sales of condominiums priced between five and ten million and one sale priced at over ten million. This compares to the 2009 numbers of 80 condos sold for between one and a half million and three million dollars. In 2009, there were 29 sales between three and five million dollars and one sale over five million. There were no sales over ten million.

The land market on Maui has been slow since 2007. The luxury market has not been immune to the lower sales volume. This is the one segment of the luxury market where we saw a significant decrease in sales volume year to year. There were 13 lots sold on Maui for more than one million dollars in 2010. This compares to 29 lots sold over $1,000,000 in 2009.

Comparison of Maui land sales volume for lots priced over One Million between 2009 and 2010

Stay tuned for part II of my Maui Luxury Real Estate statistics post. I hope to have something up a little later today before heading out for new year’s celebrations. Feel free to Contact the Maui Real Estate Team with any questions or for assistance in buying or selling Maui Luxury Properties.