Buying on Oahu

  • Waikiki Condos: a buyer’s guide to beach-block living

    The short answer: Beach-block living in Waikiki means a condo one or two streets back from the sand, inside the resort district. Most Waikiki condos do not allow short-term renting. The ones that do are named in this article: 39 buildings in three groups, plus six more buildings where only one to three units can rent, and the buildings where short-term renting is not allowed at all. The list below is the whole point of this article. The City does not publish a building-by-building list, so this article gives you the list itself, measured against the City’s own rules.

  • Renting vs. Buying on Oahu

    The short answer: Nationally, renting is $1,066 a month cheaper than buying, according to Zillow. On Oahu the gap depends on what you buy. A median single-family home costs far more per month than renting. A median condo’s principal and interest alone ($2,704/mo) already exceeds the $2,642/mo two-bedroom Fair Market Rent, before tax, insurance, and…

  • The Real Cost of Owning a Home in Honolulu

    The short answer: Your mortgage is only part of owning a home in Honolulu. Zillow’s October 2026 analysis puts the hidden costs of homeownership at $16,566 a year nationally, on top of principal and interest. In Honolulu, the property tax piece is easy to calculate. Insurance and maintenance vary widely by home, so budget for…