Makena: A Complete Area Overview
Real estate and lifestyle on Maui’s most exclusive coast
By Harrison McCandless · Coldwell Banker Global Luxury, Maui
Some places on Maui sell themselves on amenities. Makena sells itself on the absence of them. This is the last stretch of South Maui before the road gives out at La Perouse Bay — gated, low-density, and quiet in a way the rest of the island’s resort coast gave up decades ago. It is also, by a wide margin, the most expensive place to own on the island.
I work on this coast for a living, and clients tend to ask the same three questions: what is it like to live here, what can I actually buy, and what does it cost?
The Lifestyle
Makena runs on privacy and proximity in equal measure. You are about ten minutes from Wailea’s restaurants, shops, and three championship golf courses, and a world away from the crowds that fill them.
• On the water: Big Beach (Oneloa), the gold-sand showpiece of Makena State Park, plus the gentler Maluaka (“Turtle Beach”) and Makena Landing, where dawn snorkelers slip out to the reef known as Turtle Town for some of the island’s most reliable green-sea-turtle sightings.
• Golf: the members-only Makena Golf & Beach Club course, a Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design rebuilt by Discovery Land Company.
• Beyond the gates: hikes across the lava fields to La Perouse Bay, miles of golden sand beaches, the ranch country mauka and wineries of upcountry ‘Ulupalakua, and Wailea’s dining minutes up the road.
• The feel: no high-rises, no nightlife, no through-traffic — dark skies, trade winds, and Kaho‘olawe on the horizon. This is the South Maui address people choose once they’ve already had the busy version.
A QUICK HISTORY Makena was the Hawaiian district of Honua‘ula, and through the 1800s its landing worked as a cattle-and-sugar port — paniolo (Hawaiian cowboys) once swam herds out to waiting barges bound for Honolulu. Keawala‘i Congregational Church, the lava-and-coral chapel by the shore, has held services since 1832. The modern era arrived with the Maui Prince Hotel in 1986; it closed in 2016 and was demolished in 2018, clearing the way for the ultra-private community that defines Makena today. |
The Market at a Glance
Makena trades in a rarefied band. Roughly eighty homes front its four-plus miles of coastline, inventory is always thin, and a single oceanfront sale can reset values for the whole island. In early 2026 only about half a dozen homes were listed — from the high teens of millions to nearly $39 million, with the median above $23 million and an average near $3,500 per square foot, among the highest figures anywhere in Hawai‘i
Active single-family listings in Makena, early 2026. Source: Realtors Association of Maui MLS (approximate).
One note for anyone reading market reports: Makena is often folded into Wailea in MLS statistics, which masks how separate — and how much pricier — it really is. I run it as its own market, because it behaves like one.
Oceanfront Homes & Estates
This is the headline act. Makena’s oceanfront and ocean-view estates are the reason the area sits at the top of the island’s price charts. Lots run generous — from half an acre to several acres — and the homes on them are bespoke: indoor-outdoor architecture, infinity pools aimed at Molokini and Kaho‘olawe, and frontage on beaches most visitors never reach. Along Makena Road and Makena Alanui, gated enclaves of just a few parcels are the norm. Even bare ocean-view homesites routinely ask well into eight figures, and a recent legacy offering placed 160 acres of agricultural-zoned coastline on the market at $37 million.
What buyers are really paying for is scarcity. New supply is tightly constrained, much of the surrounding land is locked in conservation or ranch ownership, and the best frontage rarely surfaces twice in the same cycle. When it does, it draws the kind of buyer — founders, executives, the occasional public figure — who values discretion as much as the view.
The Condominiums
If a full estate isn’t the goal, condos are the most efficient way into the neighborhood — and they are genuinely rare. There are only three established communities, and that scarcity is a big part of what protects their value.
Community | Setting | Rentals | Recent asking |
Makena Surf | Gated, oceanfront | Allowed | ~$3.8M–$4.5M+ |
Polo Beach Club | Gated, oceanfront | Allowed | ~$4.0M–$5.3M |
Na Hale O Makena | Across the road, ocean-view | Long-term only | ~$2.6M–$3.0M |
Recent active asking prices by community, early 2026 (approximate).
Makena Surf and Polo Beach Club are the prizes: gated, directly on the water, and — crucially — both permit vacation rentals, the unusual case of a true oceanfront condo that can also earn income while you’re away. Floor plans run large for the category (Makena Surf includes several residences well over 3,000 square feet), and renovated front-row units command the top of the range. Na Hale O Makena sits just across the road; it costs less and is zoned for long-term living only, which suits buyers who want a full-time or seasonal home rather than a rental. Newer to the mix are the residential condominiums tied to the Discovery development — which brings us to the centerpiece.
Makena Golf & Beach Club
No single thing has reshaped Makena like the arrival of Discovery Land Company. The developer — known for hyper-private resort communities such as Chileno Bay in Cabo and The Summit Club in Las Vegas — took the old Maui Prince site and built the Makena Golf & Beach Club: an 1800 acre members-only community wrapped around a restored Robert Trent Jones, Jr. golf course, a private beach club on Maluaka, and the concierge-driven service model Discovery is known for.
Membership is the part the rest of Maui can’t match. Access to the club is tied to ownership of qualifying parcels — you buy in, and then you’re in — which is why it has drawn a roster of founders, executives, and boldface names. The homes come in collections at different price points: Kula Villas, beach cottages a short walk from the sand, canoe cottages, and custom homesites for buyers who want to build their own.
Indicative developer pricing by collection; figures subject to change. Source: Discovery offerings via MLS.
Pricing shifts with the offering, but the entry point sits firmly in the high seven figures and climbs from there. What you’re really buying is less a house than a key to a private resort that happens to have your name on one of the doors.
Makena at a Glance
• Location: Southwestern tip of South Maui, just below Wailea — about 10 minutes to Wailea dining, 15 to Kihei.
• Beaches: Big Beach (Oneloa) and Little Beach; Maluaka (“Turtle Beach”); Makena Landing (“Turtle Town”).
• Condos: Three communities — Makena Surf and Polo Beach Club (oceanfront, rentals allowed); Na Hale O Makena (across the road, long-term only).
• Homes: ~80 fronting the coastline; median above $23M in early 2026; roughly $3,500 per sq. ft.
• Club: Makena Golf & Beach Club — members-only Discovery Land community, ~1800 acres, Robert Trent Jones, Jr. golf.
• Best for: Buyers who value privacy, scarcity, and natural beauty over resort density and nightlife.
My Take
Wailea is a beautifully run resort. Makena is something rarer — a coast developed slowly, jealously, and with real deference to what was already here. The result is genuine seclusion ten minutes from Wailea’s best tables, and an ownership opportunity that doesn’t replicate elsewhere in Hawai‘i. If you’re weighing a beachfront condo at Makena Surf, a club residence behind the gates, or a generational oceanfront estate, the most useful thing I can offer is a clear read on a market the public data tends to blur.
COLDWELL BANKER GLOBAL LUXURY Let's Talk About Your Next Move Whether you're evaluating a specific complex, thinking about selling, or just keeping track of where your investment stands — I'm happy to walk through the data with you. No pressure, just clarity. Harrison McCandless Top 2% Worldwide · Coldwell Banker Global Luxury |
