A luxury island life? Try Hawaii real estate

“You’re not afraid of heights are you?”

Race Randle, senior vice-president at Howard Hughes Corporation has stepped casually out onto the glass balcony of a 36th floor penthouse. Below, the waves breaking on the reef appear like chalk smudges. The pages of my notebook ruffle in the wind.

The balcony floats freely above Honolulu’s aquamarine ocean and there is nothing in my line of sight from Pearl Harbour to the Diamond Head crater. The penthouse, which offers unobstructed views through its floor to ceiling windows, occupies the top floor of Waiea, a rippling glass tower located in Ward Village, a neighbourhood currently being developed on a 60-acre oceanfront parcel between Waikiki and downtown. If the residence fetches the asking price of US$36 million, it will set a new price record for Honolulu.

Last year Hawaii saw double-digit price gains in the luxury segment (defined as the top 5 per cent of sales). According to Realtor.com, prices in Maui increased 33 per cent to an average of US$2.485 million compared to a year prior, while the island of Kauai came in No. 4 in the country with a 25 per cent leap in average price, and The Big Island came in No. 5 with a 24.8 per cent price increase.

But price points are only part of the novelty at Ward Village.

The master plan aims to reshape the Honolulu skyline with around 20 new towers, a revitalised marina and waterfront, bike and pedestrian paths, public plazas and vibrant street-level retail. “Hawaii obviously has a lot of great things to offer,” says Todd Apo, vice-president of community development at Howard Hughes. “But we’ve never had an urban core.”