The county seat of Kauai County, Lihue, Hawaii, is the second-largest city on the island of Kauai, with a population of around 6,000. The community has its own airport and lies just north of Nawiliwili Bay. The market for Lihue real estate suffered throughout most of 2009 and the latter part of 2008 as the effects of the credit crisis on the U.S. Mainland spread out to the islands. It remains to be seen whether 2010 will continue these sagging trends or whether this will be the year the market picks back up.

In the first month of 2010, there were seven homes sold in Lihue, a vast improvement from a year earlier, when there were zero homes sold in the community. January also saw the city’s condo sales double, from three to six, in addition to a single sale of vacant land, according to real estate statistics from local Kauai realtor Debra A. Jason.

The sales volume homes sold in Lihue in January was $3.1 million. There was no volume in January 2009 against which to judge, since there were no homes sold that month. The condos sold in Lihue during January brought in a total of $1.03 million, up a hefty 70% from January 2009, when that figure was just over $600,000. The median price for homes sold in Lihue in January was $375,000. The median price for sold condos was $150,000, down more than 28% from a year earlier, when the price was $210,000.

These trends reflect the bigger picture island-wide, where sales activity is up. The number of homes sold on the island in December 2009 increased almost 90% year-over-year, with sales of single-family homes up more than 300%. The market of Lihue homes for sale showed the second-most number of sales of any community on the island in January. As median prices in Lihue are down, so too, are prices down on the rest of the island. The median of single-family homes fell from more than $466,700 in January 2009 to just $375,000 in the same month this year. Condos, too, felt the heat, falling to $204,500 from $254,000 in January 2009.