Big Island Real Estate Market News

The market in and around Kona continues to be fast paced and is setting new price records in many neighborhoods. Sales of single family homes up to 600K and vacant land are particularly brisk as the winter tourist season begins to wind down. Buyers are often ready, willing and able to buy, but cannot find the right property due to decreased inventory and increasing list prices. This is frustrating to both the buyers and their agents. The lower interest rates have just fueled the fire; many buyers who put off buying last fall are now eager to proceed. We are doing our best to help them find properties that meet their needs and desires!

Winter Storms!

Hawaii has been the target of several strong storm systems over the past month. One strong system spawned winds that took the roofs off of several homes in South Kona and carved a swath of destruction through mac nut orchards and yards. Many trees were uprooted or sheared off and smaller farm buildings were destroyed. The National Weather Service has been investigating the damage to determine if it was caused by a small tornado, or simply high winds. Heavy rainfall along with power outages and flash flooding has been a weekly occurrence in some areas of the Big Island over the last few weeks along with high surf. It has certainly been an “interesting” weather pattern for the winter!

Having just returned from a sojourn in Boston, I can say without hesitation that our winter weather is much more pleasant than the snow and cold winds of New England. It snowed twice while we were there, but then that just made the chowder taste that much better!! Boston is a great town, but it was very nice to come back home, storms and all.

Whales

The annual migration of the humpback whales from Alaskan waters to the warm Hawaiian coastal waters has been somewhat disappointing this year. Many of us have noticed that spotting the whales from shore has been more difficult and the overall numbers seem to be down from the record numbers seen in recent years. One source explained that this year more of the whales favored the Baja coast than had done so in the past. It will be interesting to see what happens next year.

I was able to enjoy a spectacular show of breaching whales while at the public access area of North Beach at the Four Seasons Resort in late February. It was a beautiful day and the whales seemed to be enjoying it as much with their joyful play as the humans on shore. Watching whales is one of the special pleasures of living in Kona. I am always sad to see them depart in April, but perhaps the transient nature of their presence makes them that much more of a natural treasure.