Honolulu Apartments Outyield Houses on Short-Term Rental

Apartments post higher short-term rental yields than houses in Honolulu because their entry prices fall faster than their nightly rates do. A furnished Honolulu condo costs a fraction of a detached house, yet still commands a meaningful tariff from visiting travellers, so the yield math tilts toward apartments. Across the city, apartment gross short-term yields average 10.8% against 8.2% for houses, a gap of 2.6%. These are gross figures before HOA fees, which meaningfully narrow the advantage for condos.

The numbers below are city medians across 37 ZIP codes on Oahu. Your specific neighbourhood may sit well above or below these figures, particularly given how sharply prices diverge between resort-adjacent zones and inland residential areas.

Warning: short-term rental figures apply only where legally permitted. Short-term rentals heavily restricted in Honolulu. Investment properties generally not permitted; may require owner occupancy, specific zoning, or other conditions (permit required, $300). Honolulu effectively prohibits short-term vacation rentals of investment properties outside resort zones. In residential areas, only stays of 90+ days are allowed unless the property holds a rare Nonconforming Use Certificate (no new certificates issued).

Yields By Bedroom Count: Houses vs Apartments Side By Side

City medians across 37 ZIP codes. Gross yields before HOA (apartments) and before operating costs.

The long-term rental columns show whether the short-term advantage holds up under a buy-and-rent strategy. For Honolulu, both strategies tend to favour apartments on yield, but the gap between the two property types compresses substantially once you move from nightly rates (where houses and apartments compete on a per-listing basis) to monthly rents (where houses command a clearer premium for space and privacy).

Why Apartments Pull Ahead: The Price Mechanism and the HOA Offset

The yield advantage runs through entry price, not revenue. A 2-bed apartment in Honolulu sells for around $449,565, while a 2-bed house sells for around $762,680. The purchase price falls sharply as you move from a detached home to a condo, yet nightly rates do not drop at the same pace: visitors to Oahu compare listings on location, view, and amenity rather than property type, so a well-placed Waikiki studio or one-bedroom can charge almost as much per night as a standalone property further inland.

That gross yield picture changes once HOA fees are deducted. Condo associations in Honolulu typically charge around $4,497 per year for a 2-bed apartment, covering building maintenance, reserves, insurance on common areas, and in many cases utilities. High-rise towers in Waikiki, Ala Moana, and Kakaʻako with pools, concierge, and sea-facing amenities sit well above that median, while older walk-up buildings sit below it. Either way, a meaningful slice of the apartment yield advantage is absorbed by those monthly dues before the investor sees a cent.

There is also a regulatory layer that sits above local law: individual condo associations can prohibit short-term rentals in their bylaws regardless of what the city allows. Buildings with predominantly owner-occupiers frequently cap rental terms at 30 days or longer, and some ban any rental under six months. Always read the house rules and bylaws before committing to a condo you intend to operate as a vacation rental.

The Bedroom Count Curve Runs in Different Directions for Houses and Apartments

For houses, yields tend to rise with bedroom count because larger Oahu homes command disproportionately higher nightly rates from family and group travellers who cannot be served by a single apartment. Two couples or a multigenerational family will pay a premium for a 4+ bed home that a pair of 2-bed condos cannot replicate, so nightly tariffs scale faster than sale prices at the top of the bedroom ladder.

For apartments, the curve flattens and often reverses at 4+ bedrooms. Larger condos in prime towers carry sharply higher sale prices driven by square footage and view premiums, but nightly rates plateau: there is a ceiling on what a vacationing couple or small family will pay to sleep in a single unit, however large. The 4+ bed category also bundles 4, 5, and 6+ bedroom listings, so a handful of penthouse-class outlier prices can pull the median sharply in either direction. Treat that category as directional rather than precise.

Suburb Variation Swamps the City Median

These are medians across 37 Oahu ZIP codes, and individual neighbourhoods diverge sharply from them. Honolulu (96826) sits at the top of the long-term rental yield table at 5.6%, driven by compact urban condo stock where entry prices stay moderate relative to rent. At the other end, large-lot suburbs like Haleiwa (96712) show yields closer to 1.0%, where house prices reflect land value that rent cannot keep up with. The dashboard shows suburb-level data for every bedroom count and property type, so you can compare within the specific part of Honolulu you are evaluating rather than relying on a citywide average.

View Honolulu in the dashboard → Free preview · every bedroom count and property type

What The Yield Table Leaves Out

• HOA fees: Estimated at around $4,497 per year for a 2-bed apartment in this market, not deducted from the gross yields in the table above. Luxury towers on the Waikiki beachfront and in Kakaʻako sit materially higher.
• Capital appreciation: Houses typically outperform apartments on long-term value growth because you own the land underneath them, and Oahu land supply is tightly constrained by zoning and geography. Apartments rely more heavily on building-specific condition and amenity refresh cycles.
• Renovation potential: Houses offer optionality (extensions, detached ohanas where zoning permits, pool additions) that condos cannot match. This matters on Oahu where ohana suites can unlock additional long-term rental income.
• Financing constraints: Some lenders restrict mortgages on small apartments (under 500 square feet), buildings with high investor-to-owner ratios, or condo-hotel classifications common in Waikiki. Confirm financing is available on the specific building before making an offer.
• 4+ bed data breadth: The 4+ bed category bundles 4, 5, and 6+ bedroom listings. A small number of outlier properties, particularly Kahala and North Shore estates, can pull the median in either direction.

Honolulu Sits Well Above State and National Medians

Honolulu is unambiguously a premium appreciation market rather than a cash-flow market. The 3-bed house median of $1,174,054 sits above the Hawaii state median of $889,042 and is more than four times the national median of $242,500. The corresponding long-term rental yield of 3.1% is below the national median of 5.3%, which is the signature of a market where entry capital buys land value and long-term appreciation rather than immediate cash return.

For the house-vs-apartment decision on Oahu specifically, that framing matters. Houses lean harder into the appreciation case: scarce land, constrained supply, and long-run price growth. Apartments lean harder into yield, especially short-term yield in the narrow slice of resort-zoned buildings where vacation rentals remain legal. Which one fits you depends on whether you are optimising for a decade-long capital gain or current-year cash flow, not which one has the higher headline yield.

Data reflects market conditions as of April 2026. For methodology, see the market score methodology and data sources.

This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Regulations and market conditions change frequently. Verify current rules with local authorities before making investment decisions.