Walk the short stretch of South Kihei Road between 938 and 1032 and you pass six condominium complexes. They share a shoreline and a drive into town, and their listings can look a lot alike. As of this fall, they also fall into three different zoning groups.
Kauhale Makai sits at 938 South Kihei Road. Luana Kai is next door at 940. Maui Schooner is at 980, Leinaala at 998, Waipuilani at 1002 and Maui Sunset at 1032. Under Maui County's Bill 9, transient vacation rental use in apartment-zoned "Minatoya list" condos in South Maui ends on December 31, 2030, unless the use is exempt or the building's zoning changes first. These six buildings are at three different points in that process. If you're comparing Kihei condos this fall, the building's place in the county's rezoning process may matter more to a unit's future value than its asking price, its view or the Kihei median.
Six addresses, three zoning outcomes
Bill 9 is formally Ordinance 5909, and the Maui Planning Department's September 2026 staff report summarizes its terms. It sets the South Maui deadline at the end of 2030 and the West Maui deadline at December 31, 2028. The ordinance exempts valid timeshare units, uses operating under a variance and uses otherwise allowed by law. The county created a path around the phase-out through Bill 88, now Ordinance 6008, which took effect June 22, 2026. That law created new H-3 and H-4 hotel districts, but it doesn't rezone any building by itself. Each property has to go through its own rezoning, and two separate batches of Kihei buildings are in that process now.
| South Kihei Road address | Complex | Rezoning status as of mid-October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 938 | Kauhale Makai | Resolution 26-110; Planning Commission recommended against |
| 940 | Luana Kai, 113 units | Resolution 26-111; Planning Commission recommended against |
| 980 | Maui Schooner, 58 timeshare units | Resolution 26-110; Planning Commission recommended in favor |
| 998 | Leinaala | Resolution 26-129, proposed H-4; referred to the commission |
| 1002 | Waipuilani | Resolution 26-129, proposed H-4; referred to the commission |
| 1032 | Maui Sunset | Resolution 26-110; Planning Commission recommended against |
The first batch was 48 properties with 3,402 units across Maui. They went to the Maui Planning Commission under Resolutions 26-110 and 26-111. On September 22, the commission voted 6-2 to recommend denial for all but five of them, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Maui Schooner was the only Kihei property among the five. The Star-Advertiser reported that the commission backed it because all 58 of its units are timeshares. The largest property on the whole list, Kamaole Sands at 2695 South Kihei Road, was not recommended. The paper described most of its 440 units as short-term vacation use under a hotel-like operation. According to the same report, a majority of commissioners said they needed more objective standards for "operates like a hotel" than a staffed front desk or housekeeping service.
Commission recommendations aren't final. Final Council action on the 48 properties was still pending when the commission voted.
The vote count behind the rezoning
On September 29, the Maui County Council voted 5-4 to approve Resolution 26-129. It sends 32 shoreline apartment properties in Māʻalaea, Kīhei and West Maui to the Planning Commission for hotel rezoning. Maui Now reported that the vote rezones nothing yet. The commission has to hold hearings and make a recommendation before the Council takes final action.
According to that Maui Now report, a negative commission recommendation would force the Council to find six votes out of nine to pass the bills anyway. That's one more than the five who voted for the referral. Council Chair Alice Lee, Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura and Council Members Kauanoe Batangan, Tom Cook and Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins voted yes. Council Members Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Gabe Johnson, Shane Sinenci and Tamara Paltin voted no. Rawlins-Fernandez said she wouldn't vote to override a negative commission recommendation. The Star-Advertiser described the same threshold for the first batch, where the Council can still approve exemptions the commission didn't endorse by a two-thirds vote.
Eighteen Kihei complexes are in Resolution 26-129. Fifteen are proposed for H-3:
- Kihei Bay Surf, Koa Resort II, Kihei Resort and Kihei Bay Vista, along the 600 to 800 blocks of South Kihei Road
- Hale Mahialani, Kamaole One, Hale Ili Ili and Punahoa Beach Condominiums, near Iliili Road and Kaiau Place
- Hale Kai O'Kihei, Leilani Kai and Kihei Garden Estates on Uluniu Road
- Waiohuli Beach Hale on West Lipoa Street
- Shores of Maui and Kihei Parkshore on South Kihei Road, and Kanoe Apartments on Kanoe Street
Waipuilani, Leinaala and Kihei Villa are proposed for H-4. On the Planning Commission's October 13 agenda, no hearing on the referral had been scheduled yet. That agenda listed October 27 as the commission's next regular meeting.
What gets a building on the list
The Council's eligibility test explains why some buildings are on the list and others aren't. Maui Now reported that the properties in Resolution 26-129 qualify because more than half of the building footprint lies in the state's Sea Level Rise Exposure Area at 3.2 feet of sea-level rise, a special flood hazard area or the shoreline setback area. The buildings also can't have been originally intended for affordable or workforce housing. The adopted resolution adds an occupancy test. No more than 25 percent of a building's units could have been classified as homeowner or apartment units for property tax in calendar year 2008.
That 2008 test is why Island Sands and Māʻalaea Kai aren't on the list. Sugimura asked whether they could be added on the Council floor. Council members were told that only properties listed on the meeting agenda could be considered. As a result, a building's tax classifications from nearly two decades ago can decide whether it gets a rezoning hearing at all. If you're buying today, that history is in the county's tax records, not in the listing.
Kihei's condo numbers: more sales, lower prices
The Kihei sales data from 2026 is consistent with this uncertainty. In September 2026, the Kihei condo median was $539,500. A year earlier it was $650,000. Kihei closed 24 condo sales in September, up from 21 in September 2025. Year to date through September, Kihei condo closings totaled 222, up from 185 in the same stretch of 2025. The year-to-date median fell to $596,000 from $675,000. Those figures come from the Realtors Association of Maui's report, current as of October 1, 2026.
More Kihei units are selling, at lower prices. Islandwide, condos averaged 199 days on market in September 2026, compared with 127 a year earlier. Months of supply countywide fell to 12.1 from 15.2.
The Realtors Association's tables sort sales by area, not by zoning status, so they don't show how much of the Kihei decline comes from Minatoya-list buildings. A median also moves with which units happen to sell in a given month. Older research shows how much has changed, though. In its March 2025 analysis, the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization compared apartment-zone vacation rentals with non-rental condos using sales from 2005 through 2024. It found similar median prices and days on market between the two groups. For most of the last two decades, the right to rent a Kihei condo by the night didn't come with a clear price premium. Now that right has an end date for most of these buildings, and a rezoning vote could change that date for some of them.
The lower prices don't make these units easy to afford. In an October 14 commentary in Maui Now, the Realtors Association of Maui described a Paki Maui listing outside Kihei that fell from $472,000 to $330,000 after more than 300 combined days on market. Its HOA fees and property taxes alone came to $2,023 a month, before mortgage, insurance, utilities or special assessments. The same piece said that about 20 percent of 183 condo sales from January through July 2026 had Maui-island tax-bill mailing addresses. The association noted that a mailing address doesn't establish residency or intended use.
Questions to settle about a specific building before you make an offer
For a Kihei condo, the sale price includes the building's rezoning prospects. The building's position in the process is something you can look up:
- Is the building on the Minatoya list? The county posts its list of apartment district properties allowed short-term occupancy. It covers condos approved or developed before 1989 in apartment zoning districts.
- Is it in Resolution 26-110, 26-111 or 26-129? Each resolution lists properties by name, address and tax map key.
- What did the Planning Commission recommend, and has the Council acted since? A negative recommendation means the Council needs six of nine votes to pass the rezoning anyway.
- Is an exemption already in place? The county staff report lists valid timeshare units and uses under a variance among Ordinance 5909's exemptions. Whether a particular unit qualifies is a question for an attorney.
- What are the HOA fees, insurance and recent assessments? These carrying costs stay with the unit no matter which way the rezoning goes.
This post is general information about county rules and the market, not legal, tax or financial advice. Before acting on any of it, please confirm your situation with an attorney, accountant or lender.
Common questions about Kihei condos and Bill 9
Do the Bill 9 lawsuits change the 2030 deadline? Two suits were filed to block the law: Malter on December 19, 2025, and Lynam on December 22, 2025, Maui Now reported. A September 2026 update from HOA Weekly said neither case had produced an injunction through September 10, so the cases remain pending.
How many units does the phase-out cover? The Star-Advertiser put it at roughly 6,100 units on Maui. County officials had earlier excluded about 1,100 units as timeshares, variance properties or for other reasons.
Does being on a rezoning list mean a building keeps vacation rentals? No. A referral starts the review, and the Council makes the final decision.
At Millennium Realty, we stay with Kihei condo owners and buyers from the first showing through long-term rental management. If you'd like help checking where a specific South Kihei Road building stands before you write an offer, or what the 2030 date means for a unit you already own, please reach out and talk it through with our family-led team. Contact Us.
