The overall assessed value of taxable properties on Oahu is set to increase for the 2023-2024 tax year, according to a news release from the City and County of Honolulu’s Real Property Assessment Division.
The value of all real property on Oahu rose to $343.07 billion from $305.27 billion, marking a 12.4% increase, the release said.
The city will distribute about 304,000 real property notice of assessments via mail, or by email for those who requested electronic delivery, on or before Thursday. The notice of assessment is not a tax bill, but is used to determine the real property tax bill amount.
The City Council will set tax rates for each property classification in June, and tax bills will be mailed in July.
The value of residential properties increased
to $230.15 billion from
$211.05 billion, a 9.1% rise. The total valuation of properties classified “Residential A”— meaning vacant land, a condominium, or property lacking a “home exemption” assessed at $1 million or more —reached $46.88 billion from $33.51 billion, a 39.9% jump.
Residential valuations on the North Shore grew the most with a 20.4% jump, followed by the region from Kaaawa to Kahuku, at 18.4%. East Honolulu residential valuations grew the least,
up 10.1%, followed by
Windward Oahu (south of Kaaawa), up 12.5%.
The value of properties classified as hotels and resorts increased 13.9%, commercial properties by 5.3% and industrial by 10.4%.
The heightened valuations likely reflect the housing market’s boom as buyers snapped up properties during the pandemic.
“We could be witnessing a change or shift in buyer type and target properties,” Brandi Higa, a spokesperson for
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, said via email. “Residential properties along the North Shore seem to be of higher interest and competition as compared to East Honolulu and Windward O‘ahu.”
Bob Leinau, a resident of the North Shore for 50 years and treasurer of his neighborhood board, agreed. Wealthy people “took their money to Hawaii,” he said. “The houses that people pay over a million dollars for over here, on the mainland you can get houses like that for two- or three-hundred thousand dollars,” he said.
Leinau has watched property taxes rise and make life harder for locals, especially those on fixed incomes.
“What happens when your property tax goes up and your income doesn’t? You’re out of there,” Leinau said. “A lot of people are going to be hurting.”
Tom Yamachika, president of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, called the increase in property valuations “eye-popping.”
The increase in property tax likely to follow those valuations “would make owning property more expensive for everybody,” Yamachika said. “It also hurts people who are renting, because landlords get this extra cost and they have to figure out how to deal with it,” likely passing it on to renters, he said.
“It’s a hard one because we want more stuff from the city, better roads, police and on and on. But that’s where they get their money: the property tax,” Leinau said.
The City Council approved a “balanced budget” for fiscal year 2023, Higa said. The mayor’s budget for 2024 is still being developed, she said.
Property owners with questions about their real property assessment can call the appeal hotline at 808-768-7000 from Thursday through Jan. 13 from
7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or email bfsrpmailbox@
honolulu.gov during that same time frame.
Appeals can be filed from Thursday until Jan. 15. Hand-delivered appeals must be turned in by
4:30 p.m. Jan. 13. Mailed-in appeals must be postmarked before or on
Jan. 14. Online appeals at realpropertyhonolulu.com must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Jan. 15. Each appeal costs $50. Checks are payable to the City and County of Honolulu.
The notice provides the property’s ID/Tax Map Key, assessed value, tax classification, applied exemption amount, applicable special assessment and net taxable value. All 2023 assessed values
reflect the value of fee-simple real property in their entirety as of Oct. 1 and are derived from sales of similar property through June 30.
Information stated on the assessment is used to determine the real property tax bill amount. The property’s net taxable value stated on the assessment notice is taxed per $1,000 of value at the property’s applicable classification tax rate.
Property owners who have not received their 2023 Assessment Notice by Dec. 31 are advised to call 808-768-7000 or visit the Real Property Assessment Division office at either
842 Bethel St., basement, or at 1000 Uluohia St.
No. 206 in Kapolei.
