Hawaii calls its transfer tax the "Conveyance Tax" (Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 247), a STATE-level tax with no separate county or city transfer tax layered on top. It is graduated/tiered based on sale price, with two rate schedules depending on whether the buyer qualifies for a county homeowner's exemption: (1) General/owner-occupant schedule: $0.10 per $100 of value under $600,000, rising through brackets ($0.20 at $600K-$1M, $0.30 at $1M-$2M, $0.50 at $2M-$4M, $0.70 at $4M-$6M, $0.90 at $6M-$10M) up to $1.00 per $100 (1.0%) at $10 million and above. (2) Non-owner-occupant schedule (condos/single-family homes where the purchaser does NOT qualify for a county homeowner exemption — i.e., investment/non-resident purchases): $0.15 per $100 under $600,000, rising to $0.60 at $2M-$4M, $0.85 at $4M-$6M, $1.10 at $6M-$10M, up to $1.25 per $100 (1.25%) at $10 million and above. Minimum tax on any transaction is $1.00. Under HRS §247-4, the tax is legally imposed on and paid by the seller/grantor, except when the U.S. or State of Hawaii is the grantor (in which case the buyer pays). For a typical median-priced Hawaii home (roughly $700K-$900K range), this generally works out to about 0.2%-0.3% of sale price for owner-occupied purchases, higher for investment/second-home purchases.
Buyers: roughly 1%-5% of purchase price depending on source and whether prepaids/lender fees are included (commonly cited as ~2%-3% for closing costs proper, driven by loan/lender fees, title insurance, escrow fees, and prepaid items). Sellers: roughly 6%-10% of sale price INCLUDING real estate agent commissions (commissions alone average around 5%-5.5%), or roughly 2.5%-6% excluding commissions, which covers the conveyance tax, escrow/title fees, and other seller-side costs.
Who typically pays: Hawaii uses escrow-based closings (title/escrow companies handle closing rather than attorneys, similar to other Western states). Convention: the SELLER customarily pays the conveyance tax (this is also the statutory default under HRS §247-4), the owner's title insurance policy, and the real estate commission (typically split between listing and buyer's agents). The BUYER customarily pays for their lender's title insurance policy, loan-related/lender fees, recording fees for their documents, and prepaid items (property tax and insurance escrow, prepaid interest). Escrow fees are often split roughly 50/50 between buyer and seller, though this is negotiable. All of these allocations are customary/negotiable rather than legally mandated (except the conveyance tax default liability, which is statutory but can still be shifted by contract negotiation).
Important distinction: Hawaii's conveyance tax is purely a STATE tax — there is no additional county or city-level real estate transfer tax anywhere in Hawaii (unlike states such as New York where NYC layers its own transfer tax on top of the state's). Do not confuse this with Honolulu's "Residential A" property classification (homes valued over $1M without a home exemption, taxed in two tiers: $4.00/$1,000 up to $1M and $11.40/$1,000 above $1M) or Hawaii County's (Big Island) newer higher tax tier for second homes over $4 million — both of these are ANNUAL property tax rate structures, not one-time transfer/conveyance taxes, and should not be reported as a "mansion tax" transfer tax. Some lower-quality secondary sources (e.g., ListWithClever) vaguely claimed "cities and counties may charge an additional fee on top" of the conveyance tax; this could not be corroborated against the official Hawaii Revised Statutes or Department of Taxation materials and appears to be inaccurate or refers to unrelated county recording fees, not a real transfer tax — treat with caution and prefer the statutory HRS Chapter 247 structure as authoritative. There is also a distinct exemption/reduced-rate structure for entities dedicating property to affordable housing, not detailed here. Legislative proposals (e.g., HB1213) were circulating in the 2026 session to further modify conveyance tax rates on residential property, but the rate table above reflects the current/effective statutory schedule (in place since 2020 amendments, per HRS §247-2) rather than a still-pending proposal.
Facts on this page reflect research current as of 2026-07-05. Programs, rates, and laws change — confirm current figures with the relevant state agency before relying on them.