Maui looks to crack down on companies selling shares of second homes

The proposal to limit fractional homeownership comes as part of a broader push by the Maui County Council to get a grip on tourism and the influx of wealthy investors buying second homes at a time when many longtime families can’t afford to buy homes at all.

In 2016, about 50 percent of homes were sold to people who didn’t plan to live in them full time, a figure that soared to 70% by 2020, according to a recent analysis by a researcher from Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice. Today, the typical price of a home stands at nearly $1.15 million—a massive jump from the start of 2020 when the typical price for a home stood around $777,500.