Hawaiʻi Housing Finance & Development Corporation

HHFDC Services for residents

At the Hawaiʻi Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HHFDC), we believe that owning a home in Hawaiʻi shouldn’t be out of reach for local families. Our Residential Leasehold Program offers an innovative path to homeownership by fundamentally lowering the upfront cost of buying a home. By separating the cost of the land from the cost of the physical house, we break down one of the biggest financial barriers to entering Hawaiʻi’s real estate market.

How the Program Works

Through this program, eligible buyers purchase the physical structure of the home and lease the underlying land directly from the State of Hawaiʻi.

• Lower Purchase Prices: Because you are not buying the land, the initial purchase price of the home is significantly reduced. In exchange, homeowners pay a manageable monthly lease rent to HHFDC.
• Who It Serves: This program is specifically designed to support low- to moderate-income residents—typically those falling within the 80% to 140% Area Median Income (AMI) gap group—who might otherwise be priced out of the traditional fee-simple market.

Preserving Affordability for Future Generations

To ensure these homes continue to serve our community as primary residences—and to protect them from market speculation—HHFDC includes specific use, sale, and transfer guidelines. These help keep the homes affordable for the next family. The property lease requires HHFDC’s prior written consent under certain conditions, such as alterations to the dwelling or property. Refer to your property deed to determine if it remains encumbered by the Buyback program:

• The Buyback Program: If a homeowner decides to sell within a specific restriction period, HHFDC retains the first option to repurchase the home.
• Shared Appreciation Equity (SAE): When the property is eventually sold, the state receives a percentage of the home’s net appreciation, which is reinvested to support future affordable housing initiatives.

Generational Stability: The 99-Year Lease

Many of HHFDC’s original leasehold communities were built between 1974 and 1994 with standard 55-year leases. As those leases began to age, homeowners faced challenges securing standard 30-year mortgages or financing for necessary home repairs. To solve this and provide lasting stability, HHFDC updated our framework to offer 99-year lease terms. Under this updated policy, lease rent is fixed for the initial 55 years. This provides true generational security, prevents the displacement of our current lessees, and ensures homeowners can confidently build equity and safely borrow against it to maintain and improve their properties over time.

The Path to Fee Simple Ownership

While our primary goal is to maintain a long-term supply of affordable leasehold housing, HHFDC also manages a Lease to Fee Conversion Program. For certain eligible properties where the state makes the leased-fee interest available, current residents have the opportunity to purchase the land outright, converting their property from a leasehold to a fee-simple ownership.

Residential Leasehold Portals & Compliance Directories