Centrally located on Rice Street in Lihue is Kalapaki Villas which has gracious banyan trees, a clubhouse with a pool and ample parking. Lihue downtown revitalization program is making it more of a “walkable community” and this complex is perfectly positioned for that transition.
Currently interest rates are at their lowest in the last 11 months, it’s been speculated that after the Feds meet on September 16th and 17th we’ll get a quarter of a percentage point cut with some pushing for a larger cut. I would think this rate cut will further spur the uptick in the Buyer activity.
To find out what Sold, went Under Contract and was Just Listed last week on Kauai click here; Kauai Real Estate Activity September 8 to 14, 2025
Poipu Beach Real Estate Update- For the Fee Simple real estate activity in Poipu Beach since January 1 click here; Poipu Beach Fee Simple Current Market Analysis
For the Kiahuna Plantation click here; Kiahuna Plantation Current Market Analysis
Where Do Kauai Buyers Come From?
Kauai has never had many foreign buyers, the ones we have are usually from Canada and this year that market is pretty much non-existent for our island as there was only 1 buyer from Canada (so far) and they bought a property in Lihue. Compare that to the stats for the entire state; Japan 91, Canada 49, Korea 8, Hong Kong 4 and Philippines 4.
Oahu and Maui are better known. Kauai has purposely kept itself small and prefers to stay under the radar as evidenced by the building height restriction which keeps the number of condos/rooms at a much (much) lower number, the airport is purposely kept small and any proposal to make it larger is met with massive opposition as is any new resort development.
Kauai seems to be discovered after initial visits to Oahu and Maui, a remark made often is that Kauai “is what Oahu and Maui used to be like.”
Here are some highlights;
🏝️ South Shore 63% were from Hawaii, 37% from Mainland (California #1 State)
🏝️ North Shore 67% from Mainland (California #1) and 33% Hawaii
🏝️ Lihue 82% Hawaii 17% from Mainland (Texas #1)
For more information here is a graphic from Title Guaranty;
Rundown Plantation Cottages Turned Into Affordable Housing
Plantation Villages once dominated Kauai’s housing up to the mid 1900’s. These were single wall, cheaply built high density housing for field workers and their families owned by the Plantations.
Their construction would not pass todays codes and so these homes were just bulldozed for decades after the inhabitants passed away. Gay & Robinson had 1,000 of these homes across 10 camps, now there are 350 left.
To address the housing shortage new zoning rules were initiated at three of the remaining camps for these homes and now Gay & Robinson are trying to extend it to other camps as well as building more of these homes. Under the new code it costs $400K to build a 900 sq ft plantation home and Gay and Robinson rent them out for $300 to $400 a month.
So far 11 plantation cottages have been rebuilt and two new homes have been built under the new building codes.
Live Mongoose Found and Captured on Kauai
The Mongoose, which are on all the islands except Kauai, have been responsible for decimating the population of ground nesting birds, a fate that Kauai has been able to avoid. Occasionally one will hitchhike on a barge and make its way over here and when they do it’s a problem.
How did they get here? Back in the late 1800s, sugar plantation owners on Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi, and Hawaiʻi Island imported small Indian mongooses from Jamaica to combat rats destroying their crops, but the plan backfired because rats are nocturnal and mongooses are active during the day, so they quickly turned into predators of native birds instead. Kauaʻi avoided the original release—whether by oversight or hesitation from local planters—and remain the only main island without an established mongoose population.
But, this takes constant vigilance. Recently a Mongoose was spotted at the Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor earlier this month and the Kauai Invasive Species Committee went immediately into action by putting 12 traps with fresh coconuts in them along the harbor jetty.
The following morning a female mongoose was found in one of the traps and she has been turned over to the Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture and Biosecurity.
The last mongoose to be captured on Kauai was a pregnant female in 2023, a total of 5 have been captured since 2012.
Kauai 2026 Tax Relief Application Deadlines
The difference in Property Taxes for and Owner-Occupied property verses any other categories are significant but to get that tax break there are a few things to know, and one of them is coming up. (I’m also including a video that I did on property tax categories.)
To change your Property Tax Classification to Owner Occupied you must occupy your home for more than 270 days a year, have filed your taxes with Hawaii as your full-time residence the previous year and have a Hawaii Drivers license (State ID, Green Card or Military Orders)
Other 2026 Tax Relief programs such as Mixed-Use Commercial-Residential Exemption, Totally Disable Veteran Exemption, Long Term Affordable Rentals and more can be found by going to this website; Kauai Property Tax Relief
Filing for this must be done by September 20, 2025.
