Canada bans most foreigners from buying its homes. The United States does the opposite: there is no federal restriction on Canadians buying US residential real estate, and Hawaii adds none of its own. You can own a Maui condo or a Big Island house outright, in your own name, as a non-resident.

What you don’t get is a free pass on taxes and paperwork. Owning property in Hawaii means living under three rule-sets at once — US federal, State of Hawaii, and Canadian (CRA) — and the costly surprises almost always come from the seams between them.

The mechanics differ from Canada in ways that matter. Most notably, you don’t close at a lawyer’s office — you close at an escrow / title company, the neutral third party that holds the deposit, runs the title search, and disburses funds.

You generally can’t port a Canadian mortgage onto a US home. Three realistic paths:

Hawaii prices are steep — single-family homes on O‘ahu hit a record median above USD $1.2M in early 2026 — and you’re paying in US dollars from a Canadian-dollar income. A 10-cent swing in the exchange rate can move your effective monthly cost by hundreds of dollars.

Hawaii has no land transfer tax like Ontario or BC. Instead the seller usually pays a modest conveyance tax, and buyers face standard US closing costs (escrow fee, title insurance, recording, inspection, lender fees). Budget roughly 1–3% of price in buyer closing costs.

Example: on a $900,000 sale the conveyance tax is about $1,800. Investor and higher-value purchases carry higher per-$100 rates — confirm the current schedule for your tier.

• Property tax: set by county (Honolulu, Maui, Hawai‘i, Kaua‘i). Non-owner-occupant and short-term-rental classifications are taxed at higher rates — this catches Canadian second-home owners often.
• HOA / AOAO dues: condo and resort fees can be substantial; review the reserve study before buying.
• Insurance: hurricane, flood, and (in some areas) lava-zone coverage add up.
• Carrying it in CAD: remember every one of these is a US-dollar bill against Canadian income.

Plenty of Canadians offset costs by renting. Doing so triggers tax obligations in both countries that are easy to mishandle.

This is the single most misunderstood part of Canadian-owned Hawaii real estate. When you sell, two withholdings can apply at the same time, both calculated on the gross sale price — not your profit.

On a $1,000,000 sale that’s up to $150,000 (FIRPTA) plus $72,500 (HARPTA) — over $220,000 parked with two tax authorities, even if your actual gain is small or zero. Both are deposits, not final tax, but getting the excess back can take many months.

• 0% — if the buyer signs an affidavit they’ll use it as a residence and the price is $300,000 or less.
• 10% — buyer-residence affidavit with price between $300,001 and $1,000,000.
• 15% — the default for everything else (investment use, or price over $1M).
• Withholding certificate (Form 8288-B) — the big lever: file before closing to have the IRS approve withholding based on your actual expected gain, not the gross price.

Hawaii has its own forms: N-289 (claim an exemption, e.g. resident status or a 1031 exchange), N-288B (request reduced withholding before closing, e.g. for little or no gain), and N-288C (apply for a faster tentative refund after closing). Unpaid GET/TAT can hold up approval — another reason to stay current while you own.

Common, costly myths: that a loss means no withholding (false — you still need a certificate); that a Canadian corporation owning the property avoids FIRPTA (false — it’s itself a “foreign person”); and that you can skip the 1040-NR after closing (then you forfeit the refund).

Unlike Canada, the US taxes the value of US-situs assets at death — and Hawaii real estate is squarely US-situs. For a non-US person, US estate tax can apply to US assets above just USD $60,000, at graduated rates climbing to 40%. A Canadian who dies owning a $700,000 Maui condo could, without planning, face exposure on most of that value.

The Canada–US treaty softens this: as a Canadian (non-US citizen), you may claim a prorated share of the large US unified credit (the US-person exemption sits at roughly USD $15M in 2026), proportional to your US assets versus your worldwide estate. For many people that wipes out the tax — but if your worldwide estate is large, the prorated credit may cover only a sliver.

Estate-tax thresholds and exemptions change and are indexed annually. Treat the figures here as orientation and get a cross-border estate plan sized to your actual net worth.

• Build your budget in CAD, including currency conversion and ongoing US-dollar carrying costs.
• Choose a financing path (cross-border lender, US lender, or HELOC/cash).
• Apply for an ITIN (Form W-7) and open a US bank account.
• Assemble your team: a Hawaii agent experienced with foreign buyers, a US/Hawaii closing professional, and a cross-border tax accountant.
• Decide the ownership structure with that accountant before closing — it’s expensive to unwind later.
• Confirm fee simple vs. leasehold, property-tax classification, and zone risks.

• If renting: file the IRS net-election, register and remit Hawaii GET/TAT, and file N-15 yearly.
• Report worldwide income to the CRA; file T1135 once cost exceeds CAD $100k.
• Keep clean records of purchase price and improvements — they set your cost basis for the eventual sale.

• Engage your cross-border advisor 60–90 days before listing.
• File FIRPTA Form 8288-B and the right HARPTA form (N-289 / N-288B) ahead of closing.
• File the 1040-NR and Hawaii return after closing to reconcile and claim refunds; report the gain in Canada with a foreign tax credit.