Kauai Real Estate Update- To find out what Sold, was Just Listed and what went Under Contract last week on the island of Kauai click here: Kauai Real Estate Sales May 4 to 10, 2026.
Poipu Beach Real Estate Update- Back On The Market | Kahala 2/2 $798,000 (FS)
The lowest priced 2 Bedroom 2 Bath unit at the Kahala at Poipu Kai is coming back on the market. The unit is priced well below the assessed value in consideration of the updating that is needed providing built in equity. To see this unit click here: Kahala at Poipu Kai 411
For all the Fee Simple activity in Poipu since the beginning of this year click here: Poipu Beach Fee Simple Current Market Analysis
For the Kiahuna Plantation click here: Kiahuna Plantation Current Market Analysis
Uptick In Utah Travelers To Hawaii
The uptick in travelers to Hawaii from the state of Utah was described as “massive” and the airlines are responding. This has been the fastest growing market for Hawaii tourism.
Some quick facts:
🏝️ The nonstop number of seats between Utah and Hawaii increased to 61,107 in 2026. It was 17,998 in 2019.
🏝️ Utah has almost 60,000 residents that identify as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
🏝️ 3 out of every 10 passengers are Hawaii Residents who regularly travel to Utah
🏝️ 297 nonstop flights from Salt Lake to Honolulu in 2026. In 2019 it was 91 a 226.4% increase.
In response Alaska Airlines will be adding its 737-8 MAX to the Salt Lake/Honolulu line up and Delta Airlines is adding additional routes.
More Trouble For “Renovation Aloha”
The couple behind the HGTV show “Renovation Aloha” is dealing with a new set of problems.
The husband and wife team renovate fixer-uppers in Honolulu, they buy cheap and sell quick. The speed at which they flipped properties was noticed and investigated. It was found that work was done on the properties before they got permits, this cost them $20K in penalties.
A couple of months ago they found bones on a property they were renovating and filmed them, which is wildly culturally insensitive and disrespectful. The episode aired on TV but later on HGTV ran an edited version which didn’t show the bones.
They are once again back in the spotlight for operating two illegal vacation rentals on Oahu. This has resulted in $40,000 dollars in fines to the city of Honolulu. Like Kauai, Oahu has designated areas that allow people to vacation rent out their properties. And, like Kauai, there are County watchdogs out there scouring Airbnb, Craigslist, VRBO and other sites for violations.
Hawaii Conveyance Tax Bill Dies, Thankfully
A Conveyance Tax is one that is paid by the Seller to the State of Hawaii on the sale of their property. It’s basically a money grab. The Conveyance tax is lower for those buying as a Primary Residence as opposed to a second home/vacation rental.
Example of our current rates:
💰 For a Primary home between $2 and $4 Million it’s 50 cents for every $100.00.
💰 For the same home but a vacation rental/second home it’s 0.60 cents for every $100.00
But here is how they were looking to change this using this same sales price range for a second home: the conveyance tax for a non-owner-occupied home that sells for at least $2 million, but less than $4 million, is currently 60 cents per $100, which amounts to $10,000 for a $2 million sale.
Under the proposed rates, that same home would have had a conveyance tax of $8,800 plus $5 per $100 of excess over $2 million. So, for a $2 million sale, the tax would be $8,800.
But, when you get to $2.2 million, the conveyance tax rates would have risen rapidly. For a home that sells for $3 million, the conveyance tax would have increased to $58,800 plus $7 per $100 of excess over $3 million. The current rate for a $3 million property is 60 cents per $100, which comes out to $18,000.
Thankfully the bill did not pass.
Kauai Real Estate Year-To-Date 2025 vs 2026
A Broker at Hawaii Life was interviewed by Pacific Business News on the state of our real estate market for the first 4 months of this year. Palo Luckett stated: “What that's doing is it's driving people who would otherwise buy land and develop the property and improve it and build, they're now being driven into the existing home market. There's just less new construction, just because it's so expensive to build. That's going to drive more demand toward existing residential inventory.
The drop in condo sales are largely a result of high insurance rates which contribute to rising maintenance fees. We were seeing people that were getting priced out of the residential market, who are full-time residents, starting to buy into the condo market. So, there was more demand for condos, but once the condo premiums went up and the cost of ownership for condos went up, you saw statewide demand for condos drop.”
Below is a graph of the real estate activity at the end of the first four months compared to last year.
