The Valley Island of Maui was devastated by the bursting of the real estate bubble in the Aloha State. The economic recession of late 2008 added to the inevitable decline of the Maui real estate market, along with the larger Hawaii real estate market. Pretty much every component of the Maui real estate market rapidly flat-lined and then nosedived once the downturn arrived, and the situation has not improved appreciably since then. While the Honolulu Advertiser and KHON2 have repeatedly reported that the economic conditions in the heart of the Aloha State, Honolulu and Oahu, have been steadily improving, Maui has had no such luck in the last year. With every news report and economic analysis, Maui has been in deeper and deeper financial waters.
The Irvine, California company RealtyTrac conducts regular analyses of the real estate market in Hawaii, and found dire news for the Maui real estate market on July 16, 2009 as reported by Pacific Business News. According to the article, “Maui fared the worst in June, with one filing per 393 housing units, down 3.5% from May but up 511 percent over June 2008.” This is compared to much larger improvements month over month for the other islands, and generally smaller increases since last year. In itself, this is not catastrophic news, but when combined with the continuously declining rates of real estate sales and prices it paints a very dire picture for the Valley Island.
Both condominium and single family properties in Maui have been in crisis for almost a year. According to a July 8, 2009 article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin, “Maui's single-family home and condominium market continued descending in June, according to statistics released yesterday by the Realtors Association of Maui.” The Maui News reported even worse statistics a couple of days later on July 10, finding that “Halfway through 2009, Maui real estate is nearly 57 percent of the size it was in the same period last year.” Real estate agents have also been reeling financially from the crisis, taking in thousands of dollars less than they ordinarily would.