There will be more affordable condominiums in a planned Kakaako midrise restricted to local first-time homebuyers after a state agency approved affordable-housing credits for the project, anticipated to start sales in two or three months.

Board members of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, a state agency regulating development in Kakaako, approved issuing 33 credits in return for attaching price and buyer restrictions to 52 units in the 153-unit condo called 803 Waimanu.

Granting the credits, which took place at an HCDA meeting Jan. 6, will make all the units at 803 Waimanu restricted to residents with low and moderate incomes at prices deemed affordable under state guidelines.

The condo, planned with mainly studios, wasn’t the first project to be issued credits by HCDA. However, there was some debate by the agency’s board as to whether credits for 803 Waimanu were appropriate because developer Coastal Rim Properties Inc. designed the whole midrise with affordable prices.

Beau Basset, one board member, noted that Coastal Rim projected it would be able to sell units for only $13,000 to $38,000 more than prices under HCDA’s affordable-housing program.

“The difference to me is so small,” he said.

Projected prices at 803 Waimanu mostly range from $240,000 to $307,200 for studios with 384 square feet of living space and either one parking space or no parking. By comparison, the median price for all previously owned condos resold on Oahu last year was $368,000.

Basset expressed concern that Coastal Rim may sell credits to other developers that can use them to satisfy HCDA’s requirement to make 20 percent of residences in new high-rise housing projects affordable to moderate-income residents.

“It seems to be taking away from the affordable-housing pool,” he said.

Other board members felt that producing affordable housing now — that includes some restrictions beyond pricing under HCDA rules — was worth issuing the credits.

These restrictions include limiting buyers to residents who don’t already own a home, prohibiting the buyer from renting out the home, giving HCDA the right to buy back a unit that an initial buyer sells within five years, and sharing equity with the agency when the home is resold regardless of when.

“It’s a really, really good opportunity, I feel, to meet the (affordable-housing) demands,” said board member William Oh.

Franco Mola, principal of Coastal Rim, also said his market prices were projected a couple of years ago and are likely lower than what he could now get for units.

The board voted 6-1 to provide the credits.

HCDA staff recommended giving the credits. Deepak Neupane, HCDA’s director of planning and development, said it could be five or 10 years before another project gets built that triggers a need to produce affordable housing.

The current crop of condo towers approved or under construction in Kakaako have already satisfied affordable-housing requirements under the Ward Village and Our Kakaako master plans by landowners Howard Hughes Corp. and Kamehameha Schools, respectively.

Hughes Corp. is satisfying its requirement for an initial wave of towers with 375 units in a 424-unit condo tower that was recently renamed from 988 Halekauwila to Ke Kilohana and is slated to break ground later this year.

Kamehameha Schools has tapped HCDA’s credit program to satisfy some of its obligation. The trust received 100 credits for converting 162 units in the old Pagoda Hotel in Pawaa into residential condos in 2012.

At 803 Waimanu, Coastal Rim was required to make 20 percent of the 153 units, or 24 units, available under HCDA’s affordable-housing rules. Another 77 units had affordable-housing restrictions attached by another state agency, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., in return for a $9.2 million low-interest loan to help finance the project. Mola sought HCDA credits for the balance of 52 units but agreed to 33 credits to compensate for the small size of the condos.

HHFDC’s restrictions apply for 10 years and will reserve units for residents with household income of no more than 80 percent of the median income for Honolulu, which equates to $53,680 for a single person or $61,360 for a couple.

HCDA restrictions reserve units for residents with household income of no more than 140 percent of the median income, though for the credits the average income limit of buyers can be no more than 120 percent of the median, which equates to $73,000 for a single person and $84,350 for a couple.

For Mola the credits could be pretty valuable. Neupane said some previous credits have been valued at $50,000 to $100,000 apiece. But ultimately the value is what another developer is willing to pay so that it doesn’t have to produce units at a moderate price, which could be considerably higher for a developer wanting to sell more million-dollar condos.

At $100,000 apiece, Mola’s credits would be worth $3.3 million.

Mola said he has no immediate plans to sell the credits. He said he expects that brokerage firm List International Realty will begin selling units at 803 Waimanu in two or three months and that construction might start in June.