Ask an agent to pull a comparative market analysis on a condo at The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, and the exercise stalls almost immediately. In at least one of the past three years, not a single condo closed inside the building. Not a slow year. Zero.
For an address this recognizable, that quiet reads as a warning sign to most buyers walking in cold. It shouldn't. The empty sales column here has little to do with demand and a lot to do with who actually owns these 107 units, how few of them have ever been individually owned in the first place, and how easy it is to confuse this property with a completely different Kapalua hotel a half mile down the coast that just changed hands. Before anyone anchors on a listing price at this address, it's worth understanding why the usual pricing tools don't work the way they do everywhere else.
Why the Sales Column Stays Empty
The Ritz-Carlton hotel was built in 1992, and a 2007 renovation carved its North Wing into 107 privately owned one and two bedroom condominiums. When those units first came to market in 2008, only 34 sold to individual buyers. The rest sat as hotel-linked inventory through several ownership changes. By 2018, when Ares and Trinity sold the hotel to Blackstone Real Estate Group, 61 of the original 107 residences were still unsold and transferred with the hotel itself. Run the math and there's a narrow band, something like a dozen units at most, that could have changed hands as private resales in the decade between.
That's the real reason comps are so sparse. Most of this building was never meant to trade like a typical condo market. A large share of the inventory has spent most of its life as institutional or hotel-owned holdings rather than individually owned units that show up for sale when an owner decides to list.
The units themselves run roughly 860 to 1,646 square feet across one and two bedroom layouts, with a single rare penthouse, unit 1626, at 2,558 square feet. A $100 million renovation completed in late 2022 refreshed the hotel's guest rooms and all 107 residential suites, but a fresh coat of paint doesn't change the ownership math underneath it. The building looks new. The pool of units that can actually be bought and sold is still small.
The Fee Sheet Has Two Numbers, Not One
Buyers scanning a listing for the monthly carrying cost usually stop at the first figure they see. At this building, that habit can leave real money off the table.
One recent listing for unit 1125, an 872 square foot one bedroom, quoted a monthly maintenance fee of $3,068. A separate listing for a different two-bedroom lockoff unit in the same building broke out a distinct line item: a reserve for periodic replacement of furniture, fixtures, and equipment, priced at $1,711.51 a month, on top of whatever base maintenance charge applied to that unit.
| Line item | Example unit | Monthly cost | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base maintenance fee | Unit 1125, 872 sq ft, 1BR/1BA | $3,068 | Water, sewer, common areas, hotel-standard staffing |
| FF&E replacement reserve | 2BR lockoff unit | $1,711.51 | Furniture, fixtures, and equipment turnover |
These figures come from two separate units, not one door carrying both charges at once. But the pattern matters more than the specific pairing. This is a building where the FF&E reserve exists as its own disclosed line, separate from the headline maintenance number, because keeping every unit at brand standard after a year of vacation renters requires a dedicated fund for replacing furniture and fixtures on a schedule. Before assuming the maintenance figure quoted online is the whole number, ask whether the unit under consideration carries a reserve charge of its own, and get it in writing.
Two Kapalua Landmarks, One Easy Mix-Up
There's a second trap that catches buyers before they even get to the fee sheet. Multiple listing sources go out of their way to flag it directly: The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Kapalua, inside the hotel's own North Wing, is not the same property as what used to be called The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay, a separate development about half a mile away.
That second property opened in 2009 with 84 full-ownership residences and 62 fractional-ownership units, 146 total. It went through a foreclosure in 2013, was acquired by Island Acquisitions, and reopened under Montage management as Montage Kapalua Bay. In November 2025, investor group Kemmons Wilson Hospitality Partners acquired the remaining residences along with the hotel and event spaces. On March 14, 2026, Marriott International took over management, operating it for now as The Resort at Kapalua Bay, with a full conversion to St. Regis Kapalua Bay planned for 2027.
Two different developers, two different ownership histories, two different unit mixes, both carrying some version of the Ritz-Carlton name at one point in their history. A buyer searching for Ritz-Carlton Residences listings who lands on paperwork for the Kapalua Bay complex instead is looking at a different product with a different price ceiling entirely.
The Hotel Next Door Just Changed Hands, and That Matters Here Too
The St. Regis conversion is worth watching even for buyers who have zero interest in the Kapalua Bay property itself, because it puts both of Kapalua's marquee hotel brands under the same operator for the first time. The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua was showing rates around $673 a night for low season dates in 2026, while the Kapalua Bay property has been listing rates starting at $3,200 a night during its renovation, well ahead of the 2027 St. Regis flag actually landing. Wherever that gap settles once the conversion is complete, it resets what "top of market" means along that stretch of coastline, and that reference point is exactly what informs how buyers and appraisers think about value at the Ritz-Carlton Residences next door.
There's a regulatory distinction worth flagging too. Many apartment-zoned condos across West Maui are watching a 2029 deadline, when short-term rentals begin phasing out in those districts under Bill 9. The Ritz-Carlton Residences occupy a wing of an actively operating hotel rather than a standalone apartment-zoned building, and short-term renting there is currently listed as allowed. That's a real structural difference for anyone weighing this building against apartment-zoned alternatives elsewhere in Kapalua, though any buyer should confirm the current rules directly before counting on them.
What the District Numbers Say Right Now
Zoom out to the Kapalua Resort condo market as a whole, and the trend runs opposite to the rest of West Maui. In the first half of 2026, Kapalua recorded 10 closed condo sales, down from 14 over the same period in 2025. Average days on market roughly doubled, from 115 days to 253 days. The median sale price slid from $1,635,000 to $1,387,500 over that stretch. Meanwhile, West Maui overall moved the other direction, with closed sales rising 22 percent, from 121 to 148 transactions, across the same six months.
Kapalua isn't tracking the broader West Maui recovery. It's moving on its own clock, shaped as much by which handful of owners choose to sell in a given stretch as by any shift in buyer demand. That's the same dynamic playing out inside the Ritz-Carlton Residences specifically, just at a smaller scale. A single sale, or the absence of one, can swing the picture of the entire building.
What This Means If You're Looking Here
Anyone comparing condos in Kapalua should treat a Ritz-Carlton Residences comp with real skepticism. Ask which fees apply to the specific unit, not the building in general. Confirm which Kapalua property is actually named on the listing, given how often the Ritz-Carlton name has traveled between two very different addresses on this coastline. And factor in that the building next door is mid-transition into a new flag, which will eventually reset the price expectations that inform every appraisal in the neighborhood.
None of that makes the Ritz-Carlton Residences a bad buy. It makes it a building where the standard playbook, pull three comps and split the difference, doesn't apply. If you're weighing this address against other West Maui resort condos and want a read on what a specific unit's true carrying cost looks like once every fee is accounted for, Maui Life Realty can walk through the numbers with you unit by unit.
FAQ
Is the Ritz-Carlton Residences the same property becoming St. Regis? No. The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Kapalua sits in the North Wing of the still-operating Ritz-Carlton hotel. The property converting to St. Regis is a separate development about half a mile away, formerly the Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay, then Montage Kapalua Bay, now operating as The Resort at Kapalua Bay under Marriott.
Why are there so few recorded sales in this building? Most of the 107 units have spent much of their history as hotel-owned or institutionally held inventory rather than individually owned condos. Only 34 sold to private buyers in the original 2008 offering, and 61 remained unsold and transferred with the hotel in a 2018 sale. That leaves a small pool of units that can even change hands as private resales.
Can I still rent my unit short term? The Ritz-Carlton Residences occupy a wing of an actively operating hotel rather than a standalone apartment-zoned building, which puts them in a different category from the apartment-zoned condos facing West Maui's 2029 short-term rental phase-out under Bill 9. Short-term renting is currently listed as allowed at this property, but any buyer should confirm current rules directly before purchase.
