Considering buying a New Condo in Honolulu?

Aloha Jon, pricing for two bedrooms under a million is the challenge for local buyers and one bedrooms under under 500K, when it comes to New Construction. 

Aloha Jon, it's a bit of a catch 22, luxury condos subsidize affordable housing so the luxury units are built first driving up the median sales price and construction costs so when it's time to build the affordable housing it's really not that affordable and the pricing, though lower than the market rate, is still too expensive for the majority of buyers. It means we have top heavy inventory and those who are not in the ultra-luxury market have to scramble to get whatever is available in the under a million market. Of course the developers are always selling to maximize profits so they are strategizing on how to release inventory in such a way as to drive up demand and sell as many pre-construction units as possible.  Unfortunately as you mentioned the majority of sales is aimed at the investment market. In Honolulu, Asian investors, are almost exclusively courted for these properties, so much so, it's not unusual to find promotional material printed only in Japanese and Chinese. There is also the push for foreign investors to receive green card status through property ownership. This ultimately displaces the local population with flighty investors. 

Aloha David, most buyers skip the Realtor and go right to the sales office only to find out they needed to do a lot more homework if they wanted to by a unit in their price point. Unfortunately, by the time they figure this out it's usually too late for that particular building. Many buyers don't realize the strategy and timing required.