Kauai Real Estate Update- The former home of Julia Roberts located on the North Shore of Kauai went on the market for $29.5 Million and after 46 days on the market is now under contract. Julia had bought the home in 2009 for $8.5 Millon and sold it in 2020 for $12.187 Million, five years later it’s on the market for more than double the purchase price and is now under contract. It will be interesting to see where the final purchase price comes in at. To see Julia Roberts old home, and the other real estate activity on the island for last week on the island of Kauai click here; Kauai Real Estate Activity June 30 to July 6, 2025
Kiahuna Plantation- Just Listed | Kiahuna Plantation #28 $745,000 (LH)
Ocean View Premier condominium with perhaps one of the best locations at the Kiahuna Plantation Resort. No need to put on shoes to get to the white sandy beach from unit #28, you are just steps away across a green expansive lawn. This sweet Beach Bungalow is a ground floor corner unit with multiple oversized louvers on the side walls providing lots of air-flow and light. For more information click here; Kiahuna Plantation Unit #28
For all the real estate activity at the Kiahuna Plantation click here; Kiahuna Plantation Current Market Analysis
Hawaiian Airlines Hit With “Scattered Spider” Cyber Attack
In the last three weeks 3 airlines have been cyberattacked by a group known as “Scattered Spider”. The timeline of these attacks were; WestJet on June 13, Hawaiian Airlines June 27 and Qantas June 30th. The FBI issued a warning to the public about WestJet and Hawaiian Airlines prompting Delta Airlines to lock some of their accounts.
Who is “Scattered Spider”? This is a very aggressive group that has been in formation since 2022, are based in the U.S. and the UK. They were behind the 2023 attempt to break into MGM and Caesars systems and were successful in partially paralyzing the casinos and knocking slot machines out of commission. They go after large companies and “ransom” the information that they collected off of the sites.
This group will use “deepfake” video calls to impersonate company executive and their IT staff, SIM swapping, help desk impersonation and more to gain access to companies data and then sell it on the dark web. Their targets vary and they tend to move from industry to industry.
Hawaiian Airlines released a statement on June 26th saying they continue to operate safely, are in contact with federal authorities and that they will provide updates as they become available. As of July 7th, that is the only update on their website; Hawaiian Airlines News Release
Hawaii Condominium Insurance Relief
Last year was bumpy for Hawaii condominium associations as they navigated through rising insurance costs and, in many cases, assessments. From a market perspective, on Kauai at least, the condominium market weathered the storm better than other islands and I attribute that to the higher demand that buyers show for Kauai.
Our government has been working on ways to help and Senate Bill 1044 is a part of that. It allows condominium complexes access to hurricane insurance through Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund (HHRF). The Bill is intended to help until this industry stabilizes.
Not everybody will qualify, there are roughly 2,000 condominium associations in Hawaii with 800 to 900 that will qualify for full converge under this bill and 120 that will qualify for partial coverage. Applications are being accepted now through the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund, to access that site click HERE.
2025 Kauai Real Property Taxes, your tax rate is not a one and done. In fact, it’s gotten a little more involved. Understanding your property tax bill starts with knowing what category you’re in and, in some cases, what tier you fall into.
Our fiscal year starts July 1 through June 30th and your property is taxed based on how you use it as well as the assessed value. You are taxed a dollar amount for every $1,000 of your assessed value.
The County of Kauai will send out what they have determined to be your assessed value usually in December. This is the notice you’ll want to watch for and this would be the time to take action if you disagree with the assessed value. It’s important to note that by the County Code Leasehold properties are valued as if they were Fee Simple, if you own a leasehold condominium and have wondered why your property is valued so high that's why ( see Section 5A-8.1 Valuation for that information click HERE).
Kauai Real Estate Year-To-Date 2025 vs 2024
In looking at just the month of June for Home sales it was a welcome surprise to see that home sales were significantly up when looking at June of 2024 and comparing it to June of 2023. We saw 43 homes sold compared to 23, so for that month Buyers had swung a bit from condominiums which were down very slightly ( 23 vs 29 in June of 2024 ). Overall, the condominium market continues to be trending upward.
Below are the sales, and the median prices, for the first six months of this year compared to this same time last year.
