Housing & Real Estate

Councilmember Kelly Takaya King hosts an in-person town hall on March 22 at 6 p.m. at the Malcolm Center, 1305 N. Holopono St., to discuss affordable housing and address residents’ questions on affordable housing.

Our mission is to help people experiencing or at risk of homelessness build new lives through construction, community engagement, and education.

BlackSand Capital has entered into a three-year commitment of $300,000 to House Maui, a Hawaiʻi Community Foundation initiative working to create a sustainable housing market for local families on Maui.

Leaving property taxes at the lowest in the nation could actually spur investment home buys in Maui County, according to a presentation Monday afternoon at council’s Affordable Housing Committee. About 70% of purchases in 2020 were non-owner occupied, second homes, Hawaiʻi Information Service said. Meanwhile, Hawaiʻi this year ranked lowest in the nation for property taxes by state, according to a WalletHub study published this month.

State owners of a major Lahaina development called Villages of Leialiʻi recently offered to transfer for free about 400 acres of the project’s land to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Although transfer approval and future plans for the land will have to be ironed out by DHHL, the proposal was praised Thursday during a Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. meeting.

Alaula Builders shared they will be presenting two more 100% workforce housing neighborhoods before the Maui County Council in April to address the pressing need for local housing on the island.

After testifiers debated whether adding 53 luxury homes in a hotel area would help or hurt Maui’s housing crisis, Maui Planning Commission cleared a key hurdle today for the project planned on 28 acres in Mākena. Public testifiers said the project will help keep wealthy, out-of-state homebuyers in hotel areas and reduce demand on residential communities. Other residents voiced strong opposition, saying that affordable homes – not luxury homes – should be prioritized.   

More Maui County homes were purchased by out-of-state buyers last year than in recent years, according to new state data. 

An additional 84 affordable rental units for seniors were completed recently as part of Catholic Charities Housing Development Corporation’s Kahului Lani Phase 2 project.

Maui condominium sales spiked to a new record of $730,500 last month — and almost half sold above list price, recent reports show. Meanwhile, February’s single-family home median sales price of $1.1 million rivaled the historic high of $1.16 million set in January, according to Realtors Association of Maui data published in a Coldwell Banker Island Properties report Wednesday. 

A new real estate company that helps people own their second luxury home is rolling out a welcome mat in Maui, but some residents are already pushing back, saying they’re timeshares in disguise that will ruin neighborhoods.

JLL, a Fortune 500 firm that specializes in real estate and investment management, promoted Brian Yano to vice president, regional area manager of its retail open-air in Hawaiʻi.

A Hawaiian homestead nonprofit governed by enrolled members of the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead purchased a 6-unit apartment property in downtown Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi. 

Hawaiian Electric presented a $9,000 donation to Habitat for Humanity Maui to help more Valley Isle residents achieve homeownership.

Hawaiian Community Assets announced that Chelsie Evans will lead efforts going forward as the organization’s new Executive Director.

Discussion will include comprehensive information regarding the application, lottery and lease process, and construction updates for Kaiāulu o Kupuohi and Kaiāulu o Kūku‘ia apartment projects developed by Ikaika ʻOhana.

Waikapū Country Town is the County’s largest planned residential housing development in decades.  Original plans called for 1,146 market-priced units and 287 residential workforce housing units, with the potential for 146 ʻohana units. If approved, Mayor Victorino’s proposal will increase the total number of residential workforce housing units to 500.

The Maui real estate market started the new year off with the median price for single-family homes rising to a record $1,160,000 – the previous high was set in June 2021 at $1,105,000.

Residential real estate brokerage, Hawaiʻi Life, has acquired Wailea Realty Corporation, a second-generation Maui real estate brokerage founded in 1972.

As director of the House Maui Initiative, Keoni Kuoha will work to bring together nonprofit organizations, funders, homebuilders, government and communities to create affordable housing solutions on Maui.

The lottery will determine which successful applicants will secure one of the new housing units at the project site, which is planned for construction at the corner of Kaiola Place and ʻOhukai Road, a few blocks mauka from Mai Poina ‘Oe Ia’u and Kalepolepo Beach Park.