Report: Honolulu is one of 5 ‘impossibly unaffordable’ US housing markets
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The cost of living in Hawaii has long been among the highest in the nation.
But over the last few years — amid skyrocketing inflation and housing prices — the situation has grown more acute, becoming a growing concern for Hawaii lawmakers and contributing to an ongoing exodus of residents.
Now a new study is putting the plight of many Hawaii families into sharper focus.
Special Section: Priced Out of Paradise
It concludes housing in Honolulu isn’t just pricey, but “impossibly unaffordable.” The four other “impossibly unaffordable” markets in the United States were all in California and included San Francisco and San Jose.
The authors of the annual Demographic International Housing Affordability report said the rise of unaffordable markets was nothing less than an “existential threat” to the middle class.
“For decades in the high-income world, a hallmark of a strong middle class was the widespread ability to own a home — house prices generally rose in line with household incomes,” the report’s authors said.
“However, this nexus has been broken in many markets, with house prices escalating far above household incomes. Land prices are now much more expensive, and house prices relative to household incomes have tripled in markets such as San Francisco, Sydney, Vancouver, Honolulu and Auckland.”
The report said the median house price in Honolulu is now 10 1/2 times the median income.
In more affordable U.S. cities, housing prices are about four times median income.
To read the full report, click here.
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