Considering that the island of Oahu is only ___ square miles and there are ____ people living there, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Waikiki real estate is pretty expensive.
Waikiki resorts are aimed at anywhere from 3-5 stars meaning that a lot of them can compete with resorts from anywhere in the world. If you’re staying somewhere like the royal Hawaiian, you may think you’ve died and gone to heaven. And heaven, my friends, is not cheap.
Waikiki beach is already past it’s boom days so the market has been established. Many of the buildings you’ll see in Waikiki reflect that they’ve been built in the 70’s and 80’s. Only a select few buildings are considered new. One such building would be the trump international tower, which was completed in 2009.
However, even though it is pricey it may be worth it. If you can afford to live in Waikiki you’ll be steps from one of the best beaches in the world, nightlife, shopping, and amazing restaurants. Although they say money doesn’t buy happiness, I think it would still help quite a bit in this case.
What Can You Buy in Waikiki?
The vast majority of property in Waikiki is going to be condos. There are even hotel rooms that are converted into condos that people live in (who needs lot of room when you’re at the beach all day?)
So depending on your budget let’s see what kind of real estate you can buy in Waikiki.
$200,000
For about $200,000 you can buy a leasehold condo that is 1 bedroom, 1 bath and anywhere from 500-800 square feet. Generally it will include a parking spot (you can buy these for about $30,000 in Waikiki) and be part of a large tower.
$500,000
$1,000,000
Fee Simple versus Leasehold
If you’re looking at Waikiki real estate online you may notice that some properties are fee simple while others are leasehold.
Fee Simple means that you own the property outright and that will continue infinitely.
Leasehold means that eventually you’ll have to give up rights to the property since the leasehold agreement will come up in several years.