Honolulu Property Taxes (Are they low?)

July 10th, 2008 categories: The Market

While speaking with a potential client in California, I was surprised to discover that she was making plans to move to Honolulu. Apparently, Californians are being taxed at such a level that many are looking for states with a more bearable overall tax structure. I found it interesting that she would consider Hawaii a more friendly tax environment, as we are not generally thought of as a low tax State. Hawaii does have a high tax burden, but when it comes to property taxes many people consider our property tax rates to be very low.

As an example, if a person were to buy a home for $750,000 in each state, the person buying in Honolulu would pay $2468 per year in property taxes. The California purchaser, in most cases, would pay $9375 per year. That’s the difference of $6907 per year, or about $575 per month. Before I started writing this blog, I didn’t think that the difference was as great. This difference, however, could pay for a very nice vacation for a family of four or the monthly payment on a luxury car.

Given our quality of life and the savings on property taxes, Honolulu maybe attracting more mainlanders from high tax burden states. Could this lead to more demand for Honolulu properties? I think so.

CLICK HERE FOR A SHEET THAT SHOWS MOST OF HAWAII’S VARIOUS PROPERTY TAX RATES.

Today’s picture is all a six-man outrigger canoe just after the start of a race in Waikiki.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 6:44 am and is filed under The Market. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.