Elizabeth Ziff also had a transforming experience while on a yoga retreat. “I saw a whale breach about 50 feet away,” she recalled, “and that was it.” Last year Ms. Ziff, co-executive producer of “The L Word” on Showtime and a guitarist-vocalist with the band Betty, bought a one-room wooden house on a half-acre lot.  “I love Puna because there are no resorts, and it has Hawaiian culture that hasn’t been utterly destroyed,” she said, speaking from her home in New York City (she also has a home in Vancouver). “I like the energy. I go there to heal.”  But there is another, very grounded, reason to buy there: Price.  “Puna is the cheapest real estate statewide,” said Denis Fuster, an agent with ReMax Island Surf Realty. While prices shot up more than 20 percent from 2005 to 2006, he said, the market has leveled. Buyers can still find plenty of acre plots in the $60,000 range, and the median price for a single-family dwelling was $269,000 at the end of 2006. Those figures attract people from the mainland, but also those who live on Hawaii’s pricier islands.  “Although we do own a nice home on Oahu that we love, it’s getting a bit cramped, and traffic is often a problem,” said Michael Tatzber, a massage therapist who is in the process of buying a second home on the Big Island for $250,000 with his partner, Cassandra Holmes, a graphic designer. They also run Punaguide.com, a Web site that offers advice to potential buyers.  “If you love peace and quiet and a natural environment,” Mr. Tatzber said, “then Puna is the place.”  The village of Pahoa (population 1,037), a short strip that has a Wild West feel, is Puna’s downtown — the place to buy basics like natural groceries, sun block and gauzy skirts. On weekends, the handful of restaurants, especially Luqins Mexican Restaurant, buzz with the energy of people eager to connect.  At a Sunday farmers’ market in Makuu, you can buy everything from local papayas and rambutans to organic honey to handmade surfboards.  The activity is constant at Kehena Beach, where clothing is optional and people lounge in the black sand, watch for sea life and take part in Sunday drumming circles and parties. “There’s a certain earthy, artistic lifestyle in Puna, which attracts countercultural types,” said Liz Randol, a broker with Realty Executives Hawaii. Other activities include snorkeling in the warm Kapoho Tide Pools, soaking in a thermal (and slightly brackish) hot spring at Ahalanui Park and come nightfall, hiking across the field of lava that buried the fishing village of Kapalana in 1990. After about an hour and a half of hiking, you can see the glow of lava snaking to sea.  “I love the densely tropical sense of this place,” said John Upton, 74, a photographer who lives mainly in Southern California but spends several months a year at his Puna home. Mr. Upton’s latest body of work focuses on the rich color palette of Hawaii’s tropical flora, which thrives in the moist, temperate climate.  “The population here is also more stable, with less snowbirds than on the Kona side of the island,” said Heather Hedenschau, principal broker with Big Island Brokers.  Because Puna has no resorts and a limited number of bed-and-breakfasts, homeowners can make extra money through vacation rentals. Robert Trickey, a San Francisco-based drapery designer and installer, said he had had no problem renting the guesthouse that sits next to his modern home, which is on a lava field and overlooks the ocean from the Puna Beach Palisades subdivision.  “This subdivision is disproportionately gay,” said Mr. Trickey, who is gay and who laughed as he noted what may be another selling feature: The substantial gay and lesbian population here in the live-and-let-live jungle.  Getting here — unless you live in Hawaii — is not quick or cheap. “It’s more expensive to fly here than to Europe,” said Joel Hall, 57, the head of a Chicago dance company who recently moved to Puna Palisades with his partner, Craig Davis, 50, a librarian. “But it’s worth it,” he added. The nearest airport is in Hilo, which has flights only to and from Oahu and Maui.  Homeowners insurance is expensive, especially in the highest-risk lava-flow zones.  Some here say the rural simplicity can leave you wanting more. “I’m a person who likes to go to exhibitions and art shows,” Mr. Upton said, “but there’s very little cultural life here.”  Finally, there is a lot of new construction along Red Road, which hugs the shore. In addition to bringing tractors and piles of rubble, it has caused tension between the off-the-grid hippie crowd and the newer, moneyed vacation-home owners. “We all came here to get away from all this,” said Mayasa Clearwater, an 18-year resident who bemoaned the construction noise as she hitchhiked into Pahoa.  Unless you plan to live off the grid in the jungle, you’ll be choosing lots or houses that are in one of the more than 30 subdivisions in Puna. They have breezy names like Seaview, Orchid Isle Estates and Hawaiian Paradise Park. Some have paved roads, and some dirt, and they vary in their nearness to the Pacific.  There were 601 houses on the market in Puna at the end of last year, including a mix of plantation homes with large lanais, fixer-uppers from the 1960s and 1970s built with post-and-pier construction, and custom, top-of-the-line houses like Mr. Trickey’s.  There are plenty of lots for sale — ranging from $30,000 to $60,000 for an acre that’s mauka (toward the mountain), and $100,000 or much higher for land that’s makai (toward the sea). Oceanfront parcels in Hawaiian Paradise Park have been priced as high as $568,000.  A recent building boom created a glut. “There’s more inventory than there are buyers,” Ms. Hedenschau said. “So you can really find a nice, brand-new three-bedroom, two-bath house away from the ocean for $300,000.”  On the low end, there are fixer-uppers and one-room cottages for as low as $150,000. The middle of the market has many places from $290,000 to $480,000; from there, prices can go as high as $1 million, even $2 million, for waterfront spreads.  POPULATION 31,335 full-time residents, according to Hawaii County.  SIZE About 500 square miles.  WHO’S BUYING Young professionals and retirees, mainly from the West Coast but also nationwide, who are looking for a natural, remote getaway at a good price.  LOCATION In the southeast of the island of Hawaii, better known as the Big Island.  GETTING THERE Flights from the mainland go direct to Kahului Airport on Maui, Honolulu International Airport on Oahu or Kona International Airport at Keahole on Hawaii. A short interisland flight will get you to Hilo International Airport, which is just north of Puna.  WHILE YOU’RE LOOKING Your best bet is to rent someone’s vacation home. There are many listed on the Vacation Rentals by Owner Web site (www.vrbo.com). The Kalani Oceanside Retreat (12-6860 Kalapana-Kapoho Beach Road, 808-965-7828; www.kalani.com) has treehouses, cottages and lodge rooms for $105 to $260.  The Havens column last Friday about the Puna region of Hawaii mischaracterized air service available at Hilo International Airport. There are flights between Hilo and Oakland, Calif.; all flights are not routed through airports on Oahu or Maui.  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page F7 of the New York edition with the headline: On the Big Island, a Place for Price-Sensitive Home Shoppers. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Puna is not the most obvious second-home paradise on Hawaii, but there is a magical quality in this craggy, tangly, jungly region of the Big Island’s southeast.