The Labor Department's final calculations show that Gross Domestic Product, the broadest gauge of economic activity, increased 2.5% in the fourth quarter.

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It doesn't get any better than Keawakapu Beach! It is a past winner of Dr. Beach's annual survey and no wonder!. 3060 South Kihei Road sits in the middle of Keawakapu and boasts nearly 5700 square feet of living space. Behind a copper gated entry stands a private, tropical paradise with six bedrooms,  a chef's kitchen, vaulted ceilings, marble and granite and a wonderful club/bar. A large pool, spa and waterfall create a captivating outdoor entertainment space. Walk the beach, watch the whales, bask in the sun and then return home to the privacy of your trophy home in paradise! Or never leave the grounds and revel in the private and luxurious enjoyment of one of the world's great beachfront locations.

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Tom and Sean will be listing a very large, beachfront home in the next few days. The asking price will be in excess of $10 million. Please contact us for more information.

Overall economic news still tends to look pretty good. Here, the Federal Reserve of Chicago said its gauge was up in February:

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Yes, it is only one month's data, yes February has often been volatile, but still, this report is awful:

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The latest example is the closing of 4305 Melialani Place in Wailea Highlands. This jewel sits on almost an acre of land with expansive ocean views from the entire home. At 5700 square feet and only six years old, and built with exceptional materials, this home is simply as good as it gets while not being oceanfront. The sale price was $9.3 million. While a substantial discount from the last listing price of $11 million, it does represent a per square foot value of over $1600. That is double Wailea's average for 2006.

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According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes rose 3.9% over January's numbers, well above Wall Street's expectations. A good sign. Inventory was also up modestly while prices fell less than 1%. What seems to be happening is that relatively small price reductions can have large demand impacts, at least on a nationwide basis. It also looks to us like the market is settling down a little bit. The spring selling season on the mainland is going to be very important to this viewpoint however.

We have been alerted by a reliable source that the Today Show's Matt Lauer will be filming on Maui this weekend. Our guess is next week on the Today Show we'll see some Maui segments. Stay tuned.

We were fortunate enough to be invited to a lunch with Paul Brewbaker, Chief Economist for Bank Of Hawaii. in his usual engaging fashion, Brewbaker defended his views on a variety of subjects. Here are some of his takes:

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The Federal Reserve left the fed funds rate unchanged at 5.25%.  However they did change their reporting language in an important way that reflects more concern with economic growth. Instead of referring to future "tightening," they referred to generic "policy adjustments," a more neutral stance. Pretty clearly the Fed thinks the economy is not performing as well as it did a few months ago. But how much are they worried? Bear Barry Ritholz of Ritholz Research said the following

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