It's been roughly 3 months since Trump Hotel Waikiki was rebranded as Kala'i. I'm here right across the street on Saratoga Road. Today, we're going to do a little report on what's been happening since the name rebrand has taken place at Trump Tower Waikiki, which is now Kala'i.

High Inventory = Buyer's Market

First off, if you’re looking for condos for sale in the building, everything in MLS is still called Trump Tower Waikiki. There’s a lot to choose from if you’re a buyer. There’s well over 70 Active listings in the building. So, from an inventory standpoint, not a whole lot has changed. Ever since the building was completed in 2009, it’s been notorious for having one of the highest (if not the highest) percentage of available inventory for any condo project on Oahu.

High Days on Market

Since the formal rebrand in February, there have been 15 sales that have taken place, most of which were studios. A dozen, or 12 of those sales were under $1 million dollars. The highest sale was a 3 bedroom unit for $2,980,000, which originally started at $3,880,00 or $900,000 higher. The average days on market for those that sold was 131 days. Meanwhile, the cumulative days on market were 257 days. For those of you that don’t know what cumulative days on market is, it is when a property gets taken off the market and put back on again. The Honolulu Board of Realtors started keeping those stats a few years back to help Realtors with a truer picture of what is going on.

Sales Increase 2.5 Times

As I mentioned earlier, there were 15 sales since the name rebrand. During the same period prior, there were only 6 sales. So, it appears the rebrand could be playing a factor? There is however still over 70 active listings, so the inventory hasn’t necessarily been gobbled up.

Rentals Hard to Pencil Out

Even with the rebrand, I don’t believe the financials have changed. If you’e to open buying the new name of Kala’i, you have to be prepared to NOT make a lot of money on the rentals. The hotel pool or “house” still takes the bulk of the profits. With that said, if you’re in the market to buy or sell a condo at Kala’i or any other part of Waikiki for that matter, feel free to contact me for more information. Mahalo