The Number That Tells the Story

What Happened

2010 was the year Maui's market demonstrated that the recovery underway in late 2009 was real. Single-family unit sales rose 17% from 693 to 814. The average sold price increased 5% to $747,891 and total dollar volume gained 23% to $608,783,134. Condo sales were the headline: 1,147 transactions, up 39% from 826 — the strongest condo volume since before the correction. Total condo dollar volume reached $743,305,403, a 25% gain. Buyers who had been watching from the sidelines had made their decision.

Prices told a more nuanced story. The single-family median declined 8% to $460,000 — buyers were active but still finding value at adjusted price points. The condo median fell 16% to $377,500 as a significant volume of lower-priced short sales and REO properties worked their way through the system. Land remained the most measured segment: 127 sales, up 14% from 111, but the median fell 19% to $405,000 and the average dropped 53% as high-end land transactions from prior years were no longer in the comparison.

Active inventory was declining throughout the year. Home inventory fell from 1,040 in January to 963 by year-end. Condo inventory fell from 1,495 to 1,383. Short sales and bank-owned properties remained a meaningful portion of active listings — RAM noted they would need to be absorbed before the market could return to what they called "a more normal marketplace." But the direction had clearly turned.

Wailea & Mākena

The luxury corridor showed a decisive return of buyers. Wailea/Mākena single-family sales rose 61% — from 18 to 29 transactions — with a median of $1,700,000, up 11% from $1,525,000 the prior year. Condo sales rose 46% to 104 transactions, though the median settled at $852,500 — down 35% from 2009's $1,315,000 — as buyers found value across a wider range of price points. Wailea/Mākena land sales contracted to 7 transactions at a median of $406,000, down substantially from 2009's 19 sales at $1,835,000, reflecting a return to more typical land transaction volumes after the prior year's unusual activity.

What It Meant for Buyers

The window that RAM had described as a "rare chance" in 2009 was still open in 2010 — though more buyers had found it. Interest rates remained near historic lows. Short sales and REO properties offered pricing not seen since the early 2000s. For buyers willing to navigate the complexity of distressed transactions — which could take four to six months to close and required patience and preparation — the opportunities were genuine. For buyers targeting quality assets in Wailea and Mākena, the 61% surge in single-family transactions meant more choices and motivated sellers.

What It Meant for Sellers

RAM's counsel to sellers in 2010 added a notable nuance: for owners considering upsizing, downsizing, or upgrading, the math could work in their favor even in a lower-price environment. Selling for less meant buying for less — and the spread between those two numbers, carefully analyzed, sometimes revealed hidden opportunity. For sellers who genuinely needed to move, pricing correctly remained the only strategy that worked. Properties priced to the market were closing; properties priced to 2006 were sitting.

December Snapshot

• Single-family: 70 sales · median $465,706 · 139 days on market
• Condominiums: 92 sales · median $355,747 · 171 days on market
• Land: 14 sales · median $394,850 · 190 days on market

Jolanta's Feedback

2010 felt like the exhale after years of held breath. The buyers were back — not in the frenzied way of 2004 and 2005, but in a deliberate, clear-eyed way that I found more satisfying to work with. They had done their research. They understood value. They were not guessing. The clients I helped buy in 2010 made some of the most thoughtful decisions of the entire cycle — and the years that followed rewarded that thoughtfulness.