By Benjamin Finnerty (S), REALTOR® (RS-83812) with Keller Williams Realty Maui · Kīhei, Maui · 808-481-9748

Quick Answer: Maui home appreciation has slowed. The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s all-transactions house price index for the Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina metro area, which covers Maui County, was 463.81 in the second quarter of 2026: up 3.9% from a year earlier and 48.6% over five years, but about 1.1% below its late-2025 high (FHFA release of August 25, 2026).

Aloha, I’m Benjamin Finnerty, a REALTOR® in Kīhei with Keller Williams Realty Maui, and here’s what this means for anyone weighing Maui home appreciation before buying or selling. Most of the price talk you hear is about the monthly median. The median is useful, but it moves with whatever happened to sell that month. A repeat-sales index like FHFA’s tells a different, steadier story, and right now the two are pointing in slightly different directions.

How much have Maui home values gone up?

Over the long run, a lot; over the past year, modestly. FHFA’s index for the Maui metro area roughly doubled in 10 years, rose about 49% in five years, and gained about 3.9% in the year ending in the second quarter of 2026.

Quarter	FHFA index (1995 Q1 = 100)	Change to Q2 2026
Q2 2016	234.24	+98.0%
Q2 2021	312.21	+48.6%
Q2 2023	443.61	+4.6%
Q2 2025	446.27	+3.9%
Q4 2025 (high)	468.99	-1.1%
Q2 2026	463.81	n/a

Source: FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index for Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, HI, quarterly, not seasonally adjusted, as published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED), last updated August 25, 2026. Percentages are my calculations.

The big run-up came in 2021 and 2022, when the index climbed from 301.59 in the first quarter of 2021 to 411.10 by the end of 2022. Since mid-2023, it has mostly moved sideways in a band between roughly 406 and 469.

What is the FHFA house price index, and how is it different from the median?

The FHFA index tracks repeat sales and refinance appraisals of the same single-family properties over time, using mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Because it compares a property to itself, it is less affected by whether a few large oceanfront sales happened to close in a given month.

A few limits are worth knowing:

• It only includes properties with conforming loans, so cash sales and jumbo-loan purchases are not in it.
• The “all-transactions” version adds refinance appraisals, not just sales.
• Maui’s metro area is small, so quarter-to-quarter swings can be large. The index dropped from 443.61 in the second quarter of 2023 to 405.89 in the third quarter, the quarter that included the August 8, 2023 Lahaina fire, before recovering.

Why are Maui median prices down if the index is up?

Because they measure different things. The REALTORS® Association of Maui reports a countywide single-family median of $1,219,000 for January through September 2026, down 6.2% from $1,300,000 a year earlier, while the condo median fell 6.8% to $655,000 (RAM Monthly Indicators, current as of October 1, 2026).

A falling median can mean values are softening, but it can also mean a different mix of homes sold. The FHFA index suggests that, for properties financed with conforming loans, values held roughly steady through mid-2026 after peaking in late 2025. Both can be true at once, and I look at both.

How does Maui compare with Hawaiʻi and the U.S.?

Maui’s one-year gain was a bit below the statewide figure. FHFA’s second-quarter 2026 report put Hawaiʻi’s purchase-only index up 5.82% over one year and 37.99% over five years, ranking Hawaiʻi third among states. Nationally, FHFA’s purchase-only index rose 2.1% from the second quarter of 2025.

Those state and national numbers come from FHFA’s seasonally adjusted purchase-only index, while the Maui figures above are from the all-transactions index, so treat the comparison as directional rather than exact.

My Take: What I’m Telling Buyers and Sellers About Maui Home Appreciation

For buyers, the long-term chart is a reminder that Maui has historically rewarded owners who could hold through slow stretches, but the last three years show the path is not a straight line. Values in the FHFA index are only about 4.6% above where they were in mid-2023. I would not buy on the assumption that the 2021-2022 pace returns. Buy a property you can afford to hold at today’s rates, and treat future appreciation as a possible bonus, not a plan.

For sellers, the index is a good long-range sanity check, but it is not a pricing tool for your specific home. When I sit down with a seller, I start with what is actually selling and extremely recent comparable properties, so the seller and I approach pricing from reality rather than what happened three to six months ago. Those conversations can be challenging, because a sale from three months ago may already be outdated.

My practical next steps: if you’re buying, ask for the last 90 days of closed and pending sales in your target area, not just the year-to-date median. If you’re selling, look at how long similar homes have been sitting; RAM’s September report showed a median of 134 days on market for single-family homes countywide. I’ll be watching FHFA’s third-quarter numbers when they’re released to see whether the late-2025 peak holds.

For more context, see my Maui real estate market Q3 2026 breakdown and my guide to Maui home prices by area.

Frequently Asked Questions

Have Maui home prices gone down in 2026?
It depends on the measure. RAM’s countywide single-family median for January-September 2026 was 6.2% lower than a year earlier, while FHFA’s repeat-sales index for the second quarter was 3.9% higher than a year earlier but 1.1% below its late-2025 high.

What area does the Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina index cover?
It’s the federal metro area for Maui County, which includes Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi.

Does the FHFA index include condos?
FHFA describes its house price index as measuring single-family house prices using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage data. For condo trends, I rely on RAM’s condo figures instead.

How often is the FHFA index updated?
Quarterly. The second-quarter 2026 data was released August 25, 2026.

Ask Benjamin

If you’d like the recent sales behind these numbers for a specific neighborhood or property, I’m happy to pull them. I’m Benjamin Finnerty, and you can call or text me at 808-481-9748 or email benjamin@the808team.com.

Sources: Federal Housing Finance Agency, House Price Index (Q2 2026 report, released Aug. 25, 2026); Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED, series ATNHPIUS27980Q (updated Aug. 25, 2026); REALTORS® Association of Maui, Monthly Indicators, September 2026.