The Scoop: Honolulu’s Luxury Condo Market

I wrote about the 25 most expensive condominium sales of 2010 a few weeks back. With the top 10 sales coming in at over $2.95 million, the list, if nothing else, hinted at the fact that Oahu’s luxury condominium market is alive and well. Then, late last week, a “white paper” with detailed stats about Oahu’s luxury housing market provided by Kahala Associates came across my desk, and, unsurprisingly, it also showed that high-end luxury condo sales moved at a steady pace last year. Here are some of the numbers:

• As I previously reported, the top-grossing condo sale of 2010 was a Nauru Towers unit that sold last August for $4.75 million.

• Of the top 10 most expensive condo sales of 2010, Trump Tower Waikiki and Hokua had the most, with three, $2.95-million-plus sales apiece.

• Condos in the $800,000 to $1 million range saw a nearly 6-percent increase in median sales price in 2010. Units in the $1 million-plus price point, meanwhile, had a 3-percent increase in median sales price.

• Last year, 64 condos sold for between $800,00 and $1 million and 94 condos sold for more than $1 million. While these numbers are still down significantly from the market peak in 2006 (312 and 290 closed sales, respectively), they do represent an improvement over 2009, during which 54 condos sold for between $800K and $1 million and 56 condos sold for over $1 million.

• The following 10 buildings had the most sales over $1 million:

Building                                      No. of sales
1. Hokua                                          20
2. Vanguard Lofts                            6
3. The Watermark                           6
4. Trump Tower Waikiki                6
5. Beach Villas at Koolina              5
6. Koolani                                          5
7. Hawaiki Tower                             4
8. Nauru Towers                              4
9. Courtyards at Punahou              3
10. Waikiki Beach Tower               3