Ka Malanai in Kailua — 10 Years Later | What Happened to Prices, Value & Inventory?
Jun 10, 2025
Can you believe it’s been over a decade since homeowners got the keys at Ka Malanai in Kailua? Built in 2014 by D.R. Horton, this rare new construction project on Oahu’s Windward side has stood the test of time — and we’re finally looking in the rearview mirror to see how values have appreciated.
In this video, David Buck with Harcourts Island Real Estate gives you a full breakdown of:
📊 Price trends over the past 10 years for 1-bed, 2-bed, and 3-bed units
📈 Average appreciation:
1-bedrooms: +33%
2-bedrooms: +38%
3-bedrooms: +37%
🏡 2025 median prices:
2-bed: $1,065,000
3-bed: $1,252,000
⚠️ No 1-bedrooms sold yet in 2025 — and none currently for sale
🧱 Why this development was a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Kailua
💬 Unlike other Oahu projects where smaller units appreciate faster, Ka Malanai’s 2- and 3-bedroom condos outperformed — and the product mix continues to shape demand.
More on Ka Malanai: https://www.hawaiihomelistings.com/kailua-condos/ka-malanai/
📞 Want to learn more about Ka Malanai, Windward inventory, or selling your Kailua condo?
Call or text David E. Buck at 808-371-3509 | Harcourts Island Real Estate
Can you believe it's been over 10 years since owners got the keys to their Kano's at Kamalanae
in Kailua. For those of you that aren't as familiar with Kamalanae in Kailua, it was a building that
was built in 2014 and it's very very unique for the windward side of Oahu. Like it's not that
often we get to have the pleasure of seeing new construction on the windward side and what
happened in Kamalanae and the reason or what the way that came about in development was that was
on land that was owned by Kaneohe Ranch and what happened was in the town of Kailua there was an
old building called the Kailuan and they're leasehold condos like walk-up style apartment
buildings but they're individually owned but they're leasehold and I did a little video on
this about five six months back. I'm going to post a link in here if you want to take a look
but basically what happened there is it probably wasn't the best use of the land
so when that land lease came up the trustees at the time they put it out for bid in an RFP and
it was D.R. Horton came in with the best proposal and for those of you that aren't familiar with
D.R. Horton they're a you know nationally publicly traded company but they have a great
long-term I guess reputation here in Hawaii in a sense that it was originally a company founded
by Jim Schuler and then D.R. Horton bought him out many years back and so this is very unique
it's the one project I'm aware of that they have done in Kailua because it's not that often that
you see newer construction even though it's 10 years old now. Kamalanae in Kailua is very unique
in the sense that you know most of the product we see on the windward side of Oahu is a bit dated
and one of the terms I always say in this business is a lot of the best stuff was taken first
and because of zoning restrictions etc you're not seeing much on the way of new construction
if at all on the windward side of Oahu unless it's like a single family home you know where
someone's going to remodel or tear it down. So you're going to want to stick around to the end
of this because we're going to break down what has fared the best over the past 10 years since
owners got the keys to their units at Kamalanae and it's contrary to there's some videos I've
done in the past some I've done recently on Waihonua roughly around 2015 build one Ala Moana
so but this will be the first condo we're covering with a rear view mirror looking back
in Kailua and what's unique about this one is the results are not going to be the same
nor are they in any real estate we track but first off I'm going to throw a chart up on the screen
here and this is going to track sales of one bedrooms two bedrooms and three bedrooms at
Kamalanae in Kailua and there's a pattern you'll see here is you know obviously over time like most
real estate it did appreciate over the past 10 years there was a dip in median and average sales
price kind of in that range just prior to COVID and then after COVID it kind of took off around
22 ish 2023 and basically from the beginning because you'll just see the the raw data excuse
me the the chart here and graph but the one bedrooms back then were going for 573 and change
for a one bedroom and which aren't as common the complex and then for a two bedroom they're going
for around 799 and the you know the three bedrooms around nine excuse me 872 fast forward to this
past year and that median sales price was a million 192 500 for a three bedroom and for
a two bedroom at 1.1 million and a one bedroom at 765 000 so like I talked about what's unique
about this building and it really goes to show the the foresight or forecast of the developers
on this project because all three products came in around the same ballpark appreciation I've done
some of these studies in the past on other buildings also done it on capital place in
downtown Honolulu and sometimes you'll see where the the lower price units tend to appreciate
better like the one bedrooms but that's not the case here so in a nutshell actually the one
bedrooms appreciate the least amount so those that bought a one bedroom it went up 33 percent
you know this is on average over the past 10 years the two bedrooms went up 38 just barely
you know teetering on 38 the three bedrooms at 37 it was like literally almost a tie between the
two and three bedrooms with 37 38 appreciation so over the span of that time period those that held
on you know on average made about that amount of a return on their investments you know obviously
in real estate there's all kinds of other things to consider obviously consult your cpa but
you want to factor in not just appreciation but depreciation cash flow and all that those fun
formulas but as far as appreciation standpoint goes the two and three bedrooms have paired the
best in the building and by far like most developers the collection or mix of units
they they try to do the most of the two bedrooms so that's where you saw most of the transactions
taking place over the past decade and with that said if you want to learn a little oh we're in
the year 2025 by the way and to date this year we're now in june there has yet to be a one bedroom
sale this year but as i mentioned they're a little more rare in the complex and as of today the
median sales price for a two bedroom is a million sixty five thousand and then on the three bedrooms
at a million two hundred fifty two thousand so compared to the the end of 2024 what we saw was
you know an increase in the median sales price since then on the three bedrooms and then the
two bedrooms are down slightly we still have another half of the year to go so a lot can
change between now and then but if you'd like to learn more about kamal and i in kailua i'm going
to post a link to more information on the building and all the existing inventory because if you're
four five six months six years down the road that inventory is always going to be dynamic so i'll put
that link in the comments below so if you're ever curious on what the current inventory is as of
today there's one and three bedrooms available they're actually ironically there's no two
bedrooms even though that's what you know is the most in the in the complex but right now there's
no two bedrooms for sale so if you know someone look at a buyer or excuse me sell a two bedroom
give us a call because uh i'm sure there's going to be buyers out there so i hope you enjoyed this
video um if you like this information we talk about feel free to like and subscribe to my channel
and if you have any real estate questions on kamal and i or new construction on oahu or kailua
feel free to give me a call at 808-371-3509 mahalo and have a great day