Real estate sales up; median home prices drops

by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Real estate sales in the last year have seen a 10% increase when compared to this time last year. Captain realty's Nick Captain reports that foreign investment rebounded while median prices of the island's homes and condominiums plummeted. Second quarter sales saw a boost of $91.6 million with the sale of the Sherwood Hotel in Tumon as well as an 11 acre beachfront property site.

There were also two large industrial property sales in recent months.  The economy and uncertainty over the military buildup, however, negatively impacted the market during the third quarter. Captain says the two are directly tied to the future of Guam's real estate market. "We'll probably see a continuation of few high priced foreign investment transactions and we'll probably see a continuation of similar levels of sales volume in most sectors of Guam's real estate market," said Captain.

Captain notes that the median price for a single family home dropped by 25% - the sharpest drop, he says, since the 26% declined that was reflected during the global financial crisis that impacted the first quarter back in 2009.

For more details on the Guam Real Estate Market Update, visit CaptainRealEstate.com.