Big Island Real Estate News: November 2026

The Big Island market looks a lot like it did all year. Prices are holding, buyers are taking their time, and what’s happening in Puna has little to do with what’s happening in Kona. The bigger news this month is coming out of the County Council, where a vacation rental bill is down to one final vote and this year’s property tax changes are now showing up on bills.

Here’s what changed and why it matters if you’re buying, selling, or holding property on Hawaiʻi Island.

October sales: prices steady, homes moving faster

Coldwell Banker Island Properties’ October report has island-wide single-family sales at 167 (down 11% from last October), with a median price of $509,000 (up 2%). Median days on market dropped to 40, down 37%. So fewer homes sold, but the ones that did sell went faster.

Condos went the other way on price. There were 38 condo sales (down 3%), and the median fell 13% to $535,000. Median days on market was 50.5, down 34%.

Where the activity was

Puna is still the busiest part of the island. It had 78 single-family sales, close to half of everything that sold island-wide, though that was down 17% from a year ago. If you’re shopping under $500K, Puna is most of the market.

North Kona is the one to watch. Single-family sales held flat at 32, but the median dropped 21% to about $1.05 million, and days on market fell from 40 to 14. That probably says more about which homes sold (more mid-priced, fewer high-end) than about Kona values falling by a fifth. Still, homes priced right there are going fast.

North Kona condos picked up too: 24 sales, up 26%, about two-thirds of all condo sales on the island, with the median flat at $550,000.

South Kohala condos (Waikoloa, Mauna Lani, Mauna Kea) slowed down. Sales were off 27% and the median fell 10% to $760,000.

More inventory, more room to negotiate

Some numbers from a recent Civil Beat piece built on Redfin and Zillow data:

• The Hilo area had about 425 more homes on the market in an average month this year than in 2023, up 38%. That’s still about 176 fewer listings a month than in 2019.
• About two-thirds of Hilo-area homes sold below their original list price in September.
• The Redfin median sale price for the area was about $497,000 in September, and homes averaged about three and a half months on the market. (Redfin’s averages run longer than the MLS medians above; they measure different things.)
• 30-year fixed rates in Hawaiʻi are close to 7%, and the Fed raised rates in September.

In plain terms: buyers have more to choose from than they’ve had in a few years, and asking prices aren’t the final word. Sellers who price for today’s market are still selling. The ones holding out for 2022 prices are the ones sitting.

Vacation rentals: Bill 147 heads to a final vote

This is the one most owners in West Hawaiʻi are watching.

Bill 147, introduced by Councilmember Heather Kimball, would:

• Change the county’s zoning definition of “short-term” from under 30 days to under 180 days, matching the registration rules and state tax rules that already use 180
• Allow hosted rentals in more places, including residential zones and pre-1976 agricultural lots, without a use permit
• Set operating standards for rentals, and require the planning department to warn owners before fining them
• Allow rentals with more than five bedrooms in resort areas (added by amendment)

The council passed it on first reading recently, but without much enthusiasm. Three members who voted yes said they weren’t sure how they’d vote on final reading. Kimball says she has the five votes needed. The final vote is expected in December, and the council itself is changing, with four new members joining after this week’s election. That could change the outcome.

A few other dates and numbers:

• Registration opened September 1. About 180 properties have registered through the new system so far, and around 5,100 rentals with earlier permits were counted as already registered.
• Under Ordinance 26-63, passed in September, the planning department can hold off on enforcement until December 31, 2026. It hasn’t been going after hosted rentals in residential zones while Bill 147 is pending.
• For context, a county study counted more than 8,000 active vacation rental listings on the island as of March 2025, bringing in roughly $710 million in 2024.

If you own a vacation rental, or you’re buying a property because of its rental income, get your registration done and confirm the property’s zoning before you count on that income. If you’re buying a condo in a resort area, ask the seller or the association for the unit’s registration status.

Property taxes this year

The council’s FY2026–27 rates (July 2026 through June 2027) shifted more of the tax load onto second homes and high-end properties. Rates per $1,000 of net taxable value:

The homeowner cut was meant to cancel out an expected 3% or so rise in assessments. The new top tier and the long-term rental rate together are expected to bring in about $17 million more a year.

The long-term rental class is worth knowing about. If you’re renting a house to the same tenant for six months or more, you could pay $7.75 instead of $11.10. On a $700,000 property that’s about $2,345 a year. Check that the property is actually classified that way.

What this means for you

Buyers: This is a decent time to buy if you’re patient. There’s more inventory, most homes are selling below original list, and you can ask for things like repair credits or rate buydowns. The exception is well-priced homes in North Kona, which are selling in a couple of weeks.

Sellers: Price it right from the start. The days-on-market numbers show buyers will act quickly on a fair price, and the below-list numbers show what happens when a price starts too high.

Vacation rental owners and buyers: Keep an eye on December. Bill 147 and the end of the enforcement delay land around the same time.

Thinking about buying or selling on the Big Island? Call or text us, or start here: Buying · Selling

Sources

• Coldwell Banker Island Properties: Hawaiʻi Island Market Report, October 2026
• Civil Beat: A 6-Month Vacation? Hawaiʻi Council Deadlocked On Short-Term Rental Bill
• Civil Beat: Mortgage Payments Soar, Locking Many Out Of Housing Market
• Big Island Now: Hawaiʻi County property tax rates set for 2026-27
• Hawaii Life: Bill 147, what West Hawaii vacation rental owners should watch

Market figures come from the sources above and from MLS data reported by third parties. They’re deemed reliable but not guaranteed.