This week I've been looking with a client at luxury condos in and around Waikiki with a great ocean views. So after a couple days of looking at listings, I thought I would post some of my best findings and explain a bit about these buildings.
First of all, the true luxury condo market begins at about $1.2million in Oahu. And most of these properties are right in Waikiki, Ala Moana, or Kakaako. There are also some nice ones in Diamond Head which are more expensive but those seem to be dropping fast. And it's important to understand that there's a big difference between ocean view and ocean front. If you want ocean front over about 1500ft, it's going to nearly double the price of a luxury condo, to around $2-4million.
Some of these units have an elevator that opens right into your condo, because they take up an entire floor. Right now there are several almost new buildings where you can get a luxury condo that has hardly been lived in. At the Pinnacle in downtown Honolulu, you can get a fantastic brand new condo for about $2million with an ocean view, and very large at around 3000sqft. However it's about a mile inland.
At Keola Lai, a new building in Kakaako, the penthouse sell for around $2million and are about 2500sqft. The building is right across from the ocean, so it's got fantastic views. They also have smaller, lower floor 1500sqft units for under $1million.
Just down the street from Keola Lai is this building pictured here, called Ko Olani. A great building with a valet and fantastic ocean views. Very nice building and great finishes everywhere. Bargain priced at around $1.3million for an upper floor with great ocean views.
People love the luxury condos in Hawaii because they can leave them closed up and have very little to no maintenance while they're gone. In exchange they pay a monthly fee to the building management, which takes care of everything on the exterior.
For a luxury condo in the $2million price range, the monthly fees are about $1500-$2000/month. That sounds high until you think about how much you have to spend maintaining a house of that value. Yard work, paint, pool, repairs, roofing, etc. It all adds up.