Mortgage Payment Estimates for Hawaii by Home Price

Why the Hawaii payment looks the way it does

Between the two non-financing costs on a $750,000 home — the price point closest to the statewide median — property tax edges out insurance in Hawaii: $169/mo against $111/mo. Hawaii carries one of the lowest effective property tax rates in the country — the 51st-lowest of 51, per the Tax Foundation. Property tax is the standout figure here: Hawaii has one of the lowest effective property tax rates in the country — the 51st-lowest of 51.

Hawaii's median home price was essentially flat over the past year (0.4%, per Zillow), so the price figures used throughout this page are unlikely to be stale in either direction. Prices vary widely by metro: Honolulu at $950,000, Kailua at $1,250,000, Hilo at $420,000, Lahaina (Maui) at $1,100,000, all per Zillow ZHVI 2026.

The math, step by step

Using the price point closest to Hawaii’s own median — $750,000 — here is how every line item adds up to the monthly payment:

Start with financing. At Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey's 2026-06 rate of 6.4% on a standard 30-year fixed loan, a $600,000 loan (20% down on a $750,000 home) amortizes to a principal-and-interest payment of $3,753/mo. Put down only 10% instead and the loan grows to $675,000, which raises principal and interest to $4,222/mo — $469 more every month for a loan that's $75,000 larger, before tax, insurance, or PMI enter the picture.

Property tax adds $169/mo, derived by applying Hawaii's 0.3% effective rate (Tax Foundation, statewide average across all taxing jurisdictions) to the home's assessed value and dividing by twelve. That statewide figure hides real county variation: Hawaii County (Big Island) taxes at 0.3% against 0.3% in Honolulu County — a 1.2x spread between the two, so the true monthly tax line on any specific property in Hawaii depends heavily on which county it sits in. How that assessed value itself gets set also varies: Annual assessment to 100% of market value by county real property assessment divisions. Hawaii has 4 counties (Honolulu, Maui, Hawaii, Kauai) — each administers its own property tax. And the $169/mo figure above is the pre-exemption number: an owner-occupant can bring it down further — Home Exemption: owner-occupied primary residences receive a $100,000 exemption from assessed value (Honolulu; other counties vary). Owners 65+ receive a higher exemption of $120,000–$160,000. Long-term rentals excluded. Owner must file a claim by September 30.

Hurricanes and 3 other named risks are the kind Hawaii insurers price into every policy — the reason the $1,328/yr average premium (÷12 = $111/mo) sits where it does; this is the same per-price-point figure the table above sums, so the two always agree by construction. Unlike principal and interest, that line is flat: it doesn't move with the down payment. Note: this is an earlier snapshot of the same Insurance.com series RealCostIQ now publishes at $738/yr in the Insurance section below — the PITI math above hasn't been rebuilt against the newer figure yet, so treat the monthly line here as the modeling basis and the figure below as the current published rate.

Those three lines total $4,033/mo at 20% down — matching the table above, since 20% down clears the PMI threshold here. 20% down ($150,000) skips PMI. 10% down ($75,000) adds it at 0.46% of the loan a year (mortgage-insurer rate card, 720–739 credit score), or $259/mo — $4,760 total instead of $4,032. You can ask the lender to cancel it around month 94, when the balance reaches $600,000 (80% of the original price) — roughly $24,323 paid in before then. If you don't ask, the Homeowners Protection Act requires it to end automatically when the balance is scheduled to reach 78%.

At this $750,000 price point specifically: qualifying at 20% down takes $172,819/yr under the 28% rule ($134,415/yr under the looser 36% rule); at 10% down it's $204,014/yr — $31,195 more, a meaningful jump — dropping to 10% down doesn't just mean a smaller check at closing, it raises the bar to qualify. A household earning Hawaii's own median income of $94,814 falls short of the 20%-down bar at this specific price point, by $78,005 — this price point requires an above-median income here. At 10% down, where the higher loan amount raises the bar further, that same median household falls short by $109,200.

What financing costs across the price range

Total interest over the full 30-year term at 20% down runs from $200,291 on a $200,000 Hawaii home to $751,093 on a $750,000 one — both figures assume the loan is held to term with no extra principal payments. At the $750,000 price point used throughout this page, that works out to $751,093 in interest on a $600,000 loan. At 10% down instead, PMI adds $6,486 in total premiums on the $200,000 home before it cancels, and $24,323 on the $750,000 home — cost that buys nothing but the right to put down less cash up front, and that a 20%-down buyer avoids at either price.

At 20% down and the 28% front-end DTI rule, a $200,000 home in Hawaii needs $49,563/yr to qualify, while a $750,000 home needs $172,819/yr. That's the binding number for a buyer with no other debt. Once other debt is added to the picture, the 36% back-end ratio is the one that governs, and it takes less income to clear — $38,549/yr and $134,415/yr for the same two homes — but only because it's now competing with a car payment or student loan for that same 36%, not because the home got cheaper to finance. That statewide range plays out locally too: Hilo's median of $420,000 and Kailua's median of $1,250,000 sit on opposite ends of the same qualifying-income curve.

Can a median-income household actually afford this?

The gap is severe: a household earning Hawaii's median income of $94,814 is $108,243 short — 114% below — the $203,057/yr a lender would want to see on the median-priced home at 20% down at 7.03% (Freddie Mac PMMS, week of September 24, 2026). Lenders check two DTI thresholds, not one: the 28% front-end ratio covers housing costs alone ($172,819/yr at this page's $750,000 price point and its 6.4% rate), while the looser 36% back-end ratio also counts other debt and takes less income to clear on housing alone — $134,415/yr here. The catch: that 36% is shared with a car payment or student loan, so a buyer carrying other debt can end up needing MORE total income than the 28% figure suggests, not less. The two income figures use different rates — 6.4% for this page's price points, 7.03% for the median-home figure — so they are not directly comparable. The price a median-income household can actually afford under the 28% rule at 7.03% (Freddie Mac PMMS, week of September 24, 2026) is $387,776 — $453,924 below the statewide median of $841,700. That gap is not uniform statewide: Honolulu County, Maui County, Kauai County price out median earners fastest, while Hawaii County, Kalawao County, Maui County stay within reach on a median income.

Cash to close

Hawaii's closing costs sit at the high end of typical for the country — 2.3% of the purchase price (Above average — driven by high home prices rather than high rates; title insurance scales with price). On this $750,000 home that's $17,250. Title insurance ($2,800) is a relatively small slice of that figure — the rest is lender, escrow, and recording fees. Layered on top of the down payment, total cash to close runs $167,250 at 20% down or $92,250 at 10% down — the closing-cost portion is identical either way; only the down payment changes. Unlike property tax — which runs 0.3% in Hawaii County (Big Island) versus 0.3% in Honolulu County — closing costs don't swing nearly as much by county; the figure above is a reasonable statewide planning number wherever in Hawaii the home sits. Conveyance Tax: $0.10 per $100 on properties under $600K (0.10%); $0.20 per $100 on $600K-$1M (0.20%); $0.30 per $100 on $1M-$2M (0.30%); $1.00 per $100 above $10M, paid by the seller; the buyer owes $0 in transfer tax under current law. An additional 0.10% surcharge applies on non-owner-occupied residential properties, also seller-paid. Hawaii does not require an attorney at closing, though buyers may hire one at their own cost. Once the sale closes, Hawaii homeowners can file for the homestead exemption described in the property-tax section above — it isn't automatic, and it only reduces the tax line going forward, not any cost at the closing table itself.

Insurance and flood risk

Hawaii homeowners pay an average of $738/yr for homeowners insurance at $300,000 dwelling coverage ($62/mo), per Insurance.com — Average homeowners insurance rates by state (Rate Analysis 2026) — against a national average of $2,765/yr. The named factors — each explained below — are hurricanes, volcanic activity, flooding and flash floods, tsunamis. That ranks 51st most expensive of the 51 states and D.C. — 27% of the national average. The private insurance market has not seen the large-scale carrier exits reported in some higher-risk states. Premiums vary sharply by county: Honolulu County (~$500/yr), Kalawao County (~$450/yr), Honolulu metro (~$520/yr) run cheapest, while Hawaii County (~$850/yr), Maui County (~$780/yr), Kauai County (~$750/yr) run highest — the statewide average above blends both ends.

Hurricanes — Central Pacific season; rare direct hits — Hurricane Iniki 1992 remains a benchmark event are a catastrophic, low-frequency event that insurers reinsure against separately — it drives the premium far more than it drives claim frequency in an ordinary year. Volcanic activity — Big Island lava flows; 2018 Kilauea eruption destroyed 700+ homes is excluded from a standard policy and available, if at all, only as a separate rider priced on its own. Flooding and flash floods — Maui and Kauai high-rainfall areas are typically excluded from a standard homeowners policy outright, which is why NFIP or private flood coverage is a separate line item, not folded into the premium above. Tsunamis — Hawaii is the US state most exposed to Pacific tsunamis are typically excluded from a standard homeowners policy outright, which is why NFIP or private flood coverage is a separate line item, not folded into the premium above.

Rent vs. buy in Hawaii

The median asking rent in Hawaii is $2,800/mo, putting the statewide price-to-rent ratio at 25.1 — favors renting statewide — extreme prices relative to rents mean break-even is 10+ years in most markets. On the median-priced home, RealCostIQ's breakeven math puts the point where buying overtakes renting at 11.5 years of ownership, before accounting for any home-price appreciation. Kailua (35.1) and Hilo (18.1) sit far enough apart that the statewide ratio above is a poor stand-in for either one specifically.

Loan limits

The 2026 conforming loan limit for a single-unit home in Hawaii is $1,249,125 in standard counties, rising to $1,299,500 in the state's FHFA-designated high-cost areas. A loan above the applicable limit is a jumbo loan, which typically carries stricter underwriting and a different rate. A buyer financing the statewide median home at 20% down borrows about $673,360, leaving roughly $575,765 of room under the conforming ceiling before a loan would need jumbo underwriting.

Down payment assistance

Hawaii's primary down payment assistance program is Hale Kamaʻāina Second Mortgage Loan, administered by Hawaiʻi Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HHFDC). It offers a deferred-payment loan. Hawaii doesn't list a second state-run program — Hawaiʻi Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HHFDC) is the single point of contact for state-level down payment help here, rather than a menu of competing options.

First-time buyer mortgage programs

Beyond down payment assistance, Hawaii first-time buyers can also use Hale Kamaʻāina Mortgage Program, run by Hawaiʻi Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HHFDC): 30-year fixed-rate first mortgage financed with tax-exempt bond proceeds; optional down payment second mortgage (terms pending). The agency does not publish a maximum loan amount or minimum down payment for it. Household income limits by county and household size, higher in federally targeted areas. Honolulu non-targeted: $154,805 (1–2 persons) / $178,025 (3+); Hawaiʻi County $126,500 / $145,475; Maui $177,600 / $207,200; Kauaʻi $163,080 / $190,260 (limits as of June 13, 2026). Eligibility requirement: first-time homebuyer (no ownership of a principal residence in the past three years, exceptions for veterans and targeted areas); U.S. citizen or resident alien; bona fide Hawaiʻi resident; 18+; homeownership counseling; owner-occupied. Formerly the Hula Mae Single Family Mortgage Program, relaunched December 2025. Purchase price limits are set by county, not by one statewide cap (June 13, 2026: Honolulu $866,346 non-targeted / $1,058,867 targeted; Hawaiʻi County $613,662 / $750,031; Maui $1,359,682 / $1,661,833; Kauaʻi $1,162,348, no targeted area). HHFDC publishes no maximum loan amount or minimum down payment. Second mortgage terms are on hold pending administrative rule amendments under Act 214 (2026). Rates are posted by HHFDC and change; read them at the program page. A second program, City and County of Honolulu Down Payment Loan Program (City and County of Honolulu, Department of Community Services), covers 0% interest second mortgage for Oʻahu buyers, funded with federal HOME money, up to $40,000 in assistance. A county program for Oʻahu, not a statewide HHFDC program; loans are first come, first served, subject to available funds. HHFDC's Hale Kamaʻāina second mortgage terms are pending.

Beyond PITI: what else the payment doesn’t cover

Isolate just the mortgage — principal and interest, nothing else — and the payment on Hawaii's median-priced home is $4,207/mo. The number a buyer should actually budget to is $5,769/mo, roughly a third more than the mortgage payment (37% higher). The single biggest add-on in Hawaii is maintenance reserves, at $1,052/mo — ahead of every other non-mortgage line item in the true-cost breakdown, tax and insurance included. Utilities is the runner-up at $210/mo — the two together are the main reason the true-cost figure runs so far above the mortgage-alone number.

PITI is not the full cost of owning. RealCostIQ's true-monthly model adds $1,052/mo — $12,626/yr — in maintenance reserves (1.5% of home value annually — salt air and tropical humidity accelerate corrosion of metal components, exterior paint, and roofing; volcanic fog (vog) on Big Island causes respiratory issues and accelerates metal corrosion), and $210/mo in electricity plus $0/mo in gas ($210/mo total, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration — Hawaii has the highest electricity rates in the US (40¢+/kWh); most homes use no piped gas). Combined, that pushes the true monthly cost of the median home to $5,769 — true monthly cost is 37% higher than mortgage alone — lowest premium in the dataset because low taxes and insurance offset the high maintenance cost. That reserve isn't arbitrary: a typical HVAC system here runs 15-20 years (mild temperatures reduce heating load but humidity stresses AC systems), and a typical roof runs 20-30 years (metal roofs common; salt air inspection critical in coastal areas), per Fannie Mae 1-2% guideline; Bankrate Hidden Costs Study 2025 — both figures already price in Hawaii's own climate rather than a national average. The 1.5% reserve rate is sized to replace both on that state-specific schedule, without a special assessment or a credit-card repair. HOAs in Hawaii are governed by Hawaii Condominium Property Regime Act (HRS Chapter 514B), which requires associations to maintain a reserve fund; the main cost drivers are high island labor costs, resort community amenity packages, aging concrete structures requiring maintenance. Recent change: Post-Lahaina fire (2023), Hawaii enacted legislation strengthening insurance requirements and reserve fund disclosures for condominiums in wildfire-adjacent areas.

See the full Hawaii homebuyer resource page for property tax by county, first-time buyer programs, and utility costs, or compare payments across all eight price points.