Tag Archives: economy

Southwests Inaugural Flight

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Southwest Airlines had their inaugural flight to Maui from Oakland on Sunday, April 7th. The first departure flight is schedule for today from Kahului back to Oakland. Starting on Wednesday, flights will increase to two flights per day in each direction.

Travelers departing the aircraft were greeted with lei’s, goodie bags, and food! Passengers described the crew as welcoming and the flight entertaining. Maui singer and songwriter Lily Meola was on board and played a few songs for the 175 passengers.

A special blessing was done on the aircraft after the passengers had disembarked. A lolo ana ceremony, traditionally done on new canoes,  was done by Kumu Kapono Kamaunu and Ua Aloha Maji. The ceremony is meant to bring a connection between the pilots and crew to the land.

Service on Southwest to Maui from San Jose will begin at the end of May. Dates for service from Sacramento, San Diego, and Lihue will be announced in the future.

Hawaii Energy Conference

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The Hawaii Energy Conference will be taking place Wednesday March 27th and Thursday March 28th at the Castle Theatre. This is now the conferences 6th year. Theme for 2019 is Innovation In Practice. The conference is a great place for those in the energy field to network.

Energy leaders from Hawaii, Japan, Europe, and the Continental U.S. share ideas on how to serve customers and market growth opportunities. Discussions will also include grid modernization, and how solar can contribute to clean energy goals. Ideas about new housing developments that can supply to the grid and have limited electricity needs are also something the conference hopes to address.

Both days are scheduled to begin a 7:00 am. To learn more about the conference including ticket pricing and registration available here.

 

Prices Rise As Inventory Declines

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Median prices for both homes and condominiums rose for the month of February while inventory and sales declined. Median home prices increased 15.4%  to $790,000 and median condo prices rose 11.8 percent to $524,500. These stats were released by Realtors Association of Maui.

Closed sales for February homes were down 19.4% to 79 homes. Closed condo sales were down 3.2% to 120. Kihei was the city with the most homes sold, with Wailuku and Kahului close behind. Closed condo sales also saw Kihei with the most units sold with Napili/Kahana/Honokowai and Wailuku next.

Maui’s market was on trend with the rest of the nation showing a decrease in closed sales. Potential homeowners will likely take advantage the remainder of the year with interest rates being more stable then 2018’s unreliable changing rates.

As always, contact the Hansen Ohana with any and all of your real estate needs!

Maui Visitor Numbers Continue To Climb

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With an increase of over 6% in 2017, the number of visitors traveling to Maui could hit the 3 million mark for 2019. Visitor spending also increased by over 8% to $5.07 billion.

Hawaii overall is expected to surpass 10 million visitors for 2018. This is an increase of 1.8% according to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Expected visitor spending is over $19 billion. There was on average 242,629 visitors in the Hawaiian Islands on any given day during 2018.

In an effort to balance the impact of so many visitors, changes in promotional tactics have been started. New videos focusing on the cultural appreciation, ocean health and safety, have started playing on social media, resort websites, and in hotel rooms.

Great Economic News!

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Great news for our economy and our real estate market.  The Federal Reserve has indicated that it will not raise interest rates in the near future.  The Federal Reserve said that the economy is strong but that they will be “patient” before any future increases.  The Stock Market answered with the Dow up 434.50 on the day.