New home on Oʻahu

Get prequalified with a lender first. Then watch for a release or a lottery: market-rate homes are sold in releases, and affordable homes go by lottery with income limits. You reserve a home by signing the purchase contract and paying a deposit, wait for the build if it isn’t finished yet (anywhere from 0 to 36 months, depending on the project), then do a walk-through and close. Every project has its own process and qualifications.

You have to meet every requirement, not just the income limit. You must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident who lives in Hawaiʻi and is 18 or older. You can’t own a majority share of any home (HHFDC projects require at least 1 year since you last owned one, HCDA projects 3). Your household income must be at or under the project’s AMI (area median income) limit, you must live in the home yourself and get a mortgage pre-approval, and you must accept deed restrictions such as a 10-year buyback.

Both are large master-planned communities with condos, townhomes and single-family homes, and both release income-qualified affordable homes in phases. Hoʻopili, in ʻEwa Beach, is the bigger one, about 11,750 homes at buildout, with two Skyline rail stations. Koa Ridge, in Waipiʻo, plans about 3,500 homes, with a quieter suburban feel and a shorter drive to Schofield Barracks and the North Shore.

Expect two layers. A master association assessment covers the whole community, and a separate condominium maintenance assessment covers your neighborhood, even for some detached homes. In the Hoʻopili neighborhoods we reviewed, water and sewer usage are billed separately too. Amounts vary by neighborhood, unit and budget year, so before you buy, ask for the unit’s current assessment statement, the adopted budget, the reserve study and any special assessments.

Both are in Kakaʻako, the HCDA-governed district between Downtown and Ala Moana. Ward Village is the Howard Hughes master plan on the Ala Moana side: fourteen towers from one developer around Victoria Ward Park. Our Kakaʻako is Kamehameha Schools land on the Downtown side, built block by block by different builders around the SALT retail complex.

Most new homes in Hawaiʻi come with a tiered “1-2-10” builder warranty: workmanship for one year, systems for two years and structural defects for ten. It is part of your purchase contract, not a separate home-warranty plan, and the details vary by developer.