Advocacy Updates

New Year, New Changes: Exciting Update for the Honolulu City and County Real Property Website

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Published: January 28, 2025

The Honolulu Board of Realtors (HBR), the City Affairs Committee, and the Real Property Tax Division have collaborated to bring an exciting new feature to the City and County of Honolulu's Real Property website.

What’s New? There is now a NEW HEADER FIELD on the website that indicates whether a property has a DEDICATION. This update means you no longer have to scroll through multiple pages to find out if a property has a dedication, such as Agricultural, Historical, Long-Term Rental, or others. The dedication is clearly noted on the first page, right under the Assessment section.

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What You Need to Know About Bill 46 - Empty Homes Tax

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Published: October 23, 2024

The City Affairs Committee recognizes that many of you have questions and concerns regarding Bill 46 - aka “Empty Homes Tax”.  We are diligently working to educate the City Council, but WE NEED YOUR HELP! Below is an explanation of Bill 46, its impact, and how members can assist with our next steps!

Summary of Bill 46 (2024)
The Honolulu City Council introduced Bill 46 (2024), which proposes an "Empty Homes Tax" targeting vacant residential properties in the City and County of Honolulu. This supplemental real property tax aims to help alleviate Honolulu's housing affordability crisis and homelessness by encouraging property owners to either rent or sell homes that are sitting vacant.

The bill would impose a substantial additional tax (on top of Res A) on homes deemed “empty” for more than 6 months of the year. The tax would be phased in over three years: 1% of the assessed property value in the first year, rising to 3% by the third year. An indicator of how challenging this bill will be to administer are the 15 qualifying exemptions, including homes undergoing construction, probate cases, medical absences, and military deployments.

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What is a Short-Term Rental?

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Published: February 7, 2024

To help HBR members and owners of rental properties, here is how the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP), defines short-term rentals (STRs).

STRs are also known as vacation rentals and are lodgings that provide guest accommodation for less than 30 consecutive days.

In order to preserve housing for long-term residents, STRs are only permitted in resort-zoned areas and a couple of specific apartment-zoned areas. 

There are two types of STRs:

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2023 City Council Committee Assignments

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Published: January 19, 2023

The Honolulu City Council’s 2023 Committee Assignments are available below. With more than 35 bills pending the Council Floor that may impact key industry issues including affordable housing, real property taxes, zoning, land use, and sea level rise HBR’s City Affairs Committee will be working diligently with each of the Council members and DPP to ensure the voice of REALTORS® is heard. 

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