Real Estate

A UH report asks decision-makers: What are the most important values and uses for the remaining oceanfront as the sea continues to rise?

Hawai‘i’s capital is not alone. Severe housing unaffordability now plagues more and more American and foreign cities.

Luckily, the price of insurance is tied to construction costs – not to rising real estate values. But those prices don’t include hurricane insurance, whose premiums can cost thousands a year.

That means the majority of Island homes are worth at least twice what’s owed on any mortgages or other debts on the properties.

With interest rates in Hawai‘i nearing or topping 5%, now might be a good time to use a home equity line of credit for big purchases.

Honolulu trails only New York and San Francisco when it comes to building costs, according to project management company RLB.

A report by UH economists says building regulations here are the most onerous in the U.S., just as our home prices are the highest.

Here’s how you can make it happen on O‘ahu, even without a big loan from your family.

The only short-term rentals still legal got their permits before 1990 or are in the resort areas of Waikīkī, Ko Olina or Turtle Bay.

As on Maui, mainland buyers of local homes had a bigger impact on both islands than they did on O‘ahu. Meanwhile, the number of transactions is declining statewide and prices continue to rise.

They bought more than a third of all homes sold on Maui last year and accounted for almost half of the money spent.

Three-quarters of all single-family homes and condos sold last year were purchased by local residents, but that proportion was down – as was the proportion of dollars spent.

Realtors say that’s a normal part of the real estate cycle: Condo sales usually increase when fewer single-family homes are for sale.

Resort/golf course sales and vacant land sales each totaled almost a billion dollars, according to a year-end report from Colliers Hawaii. About half of the purchase volume was made by Hawai‘i-based investors.

The analysis of 2020 census data determined that 76,622 homes were vacant in the Islands.

Though mortgage rates remain low by historical standards, every tiny increase means that families qualify for smaller and smaller loans.

These homes priced under $1 million are getting harder to find: Only six of the island's 21 regions have a median price below that threshold. And prices are soaring even in those "bargain" neighborhoods.

A national report says Hawai‘i is the ninth-largest market for $10 million-and-plus homes. LA, Manhattan and Palm Beach are 1, 2 and 3.