It took 715 prospective buyers, but all 375 moderately priced homes in a planned condominium tower in Kakaako sold out this week following a lottery that drew 956 applicants.
A purchase contract for the last available unit in the tower called Ke Kilohana was signed Wednesday afternoon, making the project a sellout.
The results show that demand remains relatively strong for midpriced homes in Honolulu, where prices for previously owned homes are rising modestly because of limited supply and relatively little new construction.
Even with the general supply-and-demand imbalance, plans for one luxury condo tower in Kakaako called Vida at 888 Ala Moana were called off in January after insufficient buyer interest.
Howard Hughes Corp. is developing Ke Kilohana at 988 Halekauwila St. and began signing contracts Saturday with qualified buyers who entered the lottery. Prospective buyers were allowed to pick a unit in the order of their lottery number. Because some buyers wanted the same unit as others, it took more than the first 375 selected in the lottery. It was also questionable whether every unit would be sold to lottery entrants, given that buyers had to meet income limits and accept special rules for reselling units.
Ke Kilohana prices range from $323,475 to $442,246 for one-bedroom units, from $473,789 to $538,612 for two-bedroom units and from $521,774 to $560,774 for three-bedroom units.
Buyers may earn no more than 140 percent of Honolulu’s median income, an amount that equates to about $85,150 for a single person, $97,300 for a couple or $121,650 for a family of four. They also may not already own a home.
Restrictions on the units, which were sold for less than market prices, include the right for the Hawaii Community Development Authority, a state agency, to buy back units that initial buyers elect to sell within two to five years, and a requirement for initial buyers to pay the agency the difference between a unit’s original sale price and market price whenever the unit is first resold.
Todd Apo, vice president of community development for Hughes Corp., said the results were exciting. “We have definitely seen the exhilaration of these buyers becoming a part of Ward Village and having the opportunity to select their first home,” he said.
Ke Kilohana has 424 units total, and 49 units will be priced at market rates without buyer restrictions and are expected to be sold later this year. Construction of the tower is slated to begin by the end of the year and take about two years to finish.
