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I don't think building more housing is the best direction for Hawaii. I doubt they really could build enough to exceed demand to the point where it would put significant downward pressure on price. And the pressure it would put on resources could be a real downside.
Most likely, Oahu should look into a Hong Kong-like style of building. I'm routinely surprised how many single-family homes there are throughout Oahu, with yards. There are some high-rises and apartment style buildings, but they seem a bit scattered about.
That being said, even if Oahu did build a lot of tall buildings everywhere to house people; if Hong Kong is any indicator, it doesn't bring prices down whatsoever. Prices are still extraordinarily high in vertical cities like HK. However, I just don't see any other effective way to accomodate people with housing.
But, 30 tall buildings all within several blocks housing 1000+ people seems way more preferable than the current model of paving over something that isn't currently paved to house a small portion proportionately comparative to that.
Most likely, Oahu should look into a Hong Kong-like style of building. I'm routinely surprised how many single-family homes there are throughout Oahu, with yards. There are some high-rises and apartment style buildings, but they seem a bit scattered about.
That being said, even if Oahu did build a lot of tall buildings everywhere to house people; if Hong Kong is any indicator, it doesn't bring prices down whatsoever. Prices are still extraordinarily high in vertical cities like HK. However, I just don't see any other effective way to accomodate people with housing.
But, 30 tall buildings all within several blocks housing 1000+ people seems way more preferable than the current model of paving over something that isn't currently paved to house a small portion proportionately comparative to that.
I agree. If you are going to try and fully meet demand, concentrated high rises is the only way to go. And we're also in agreement that building to try and meet demand will not bring down the prices. If you did get to that point, then you'd simply create more demand as more people could afford to buy.
The only way to reduce demand and bring down cost is to create barriers to entry into the market, as I suggested earlier with a two-pronged taxing strategy. It's just that no one would like that approach even though it would work. People would see that the very steps to limit growth and bring down price would simultaneously block them from moving to the island and that's where their interest would end.
The cost of housing in Hawaii has dropped in the past. In fact, 2008, 2009, 2010 were pretty good times to buy in Hawaii because of price drops. And those prices dropped in large part because world-wide recession reduced both travel to Hawaii and off-island demand for real-estate.
If you really want to bring down the cost of housing and limit growth, it must be done by creating strong barriers to entry.
Absent those barriers, condensed high rises is the best alternative to try and manage demand and prevent continued sprawl and paving of the island.
Last edited by WaikikiBoy; 12-08-2014 at 09:55 AM..
Most likely, Oahu should look into a Hong Kong-like style of building. I'm routinely surprised how many single-family homes there are throughout Oahu, with yards. There are some high-rises and apartment style buildings, but they seem a bit scattered about.
I definitely agree - the artificial height limits make no sense and have made the housing situation so much worse.
Most likely, Oahu should look into a Hong Kong-like style of building. I'm routinely surprised how many single-family homes there are throughout Oahu, with yards. There are some high-rises and apartment style buildings, but they seem a bit scattered about.
I agree that single family residences are not the solution to Oahu's housing shortage, but I don't think high-rises are the answer either. As the article suggests, high-density low to mid-rise housing built in much cheaper outlying areas could be built far less expensively than either of the alternatives you gave. And if enough of that kind of housing were to be built, it definitely would have an effect on average rental prices.
What's missing is an entrepreneur who has the guts to fight all the people who would be opposed to such development, and the cooperation of government officials who are not currently supporters of the idea.
The problem is, without doing something positive now, the problem will only get worse until it finally passes the point where it causes more pain to do nothing than it does to make a change.
I agree that single family residences are not the solution to Oahu's housing shortage, but I don't think high-rises are the answer either. As the article suggests, high-density low to mid-rise housing built in much cheaper outlying areas could be built far less expensively than either of the alternatives you gave. And if enough of that kind of housing were to be built, it definitely would have an effect on average rental prices.
On Oahu, we call that Kapolei - and the problem people are faced with living on the West Side of Oahu is traffic - there is no room to expand the freeway and it already has times where the commute can be as high as 90 minutes......
"The median price of a single-family home on Oahu soared to a record $719,500 last month, moving homeownership further out of reach for many Hawaii families."
"The developer of a planned luxury midrise residential development in Hawaii Kai announced Monday it has secured $100.7 million in financing."
But that's more of the same... luxury housing... the big deficit is in housing for low and medium incomes.
I understand the central issue. It's more profitable per unit to build luxury housing, but there's certainly money to be made building regular housing for regular folks. Who's going to step up to the plate?
The so-called "Paradise Tax" is not something you can get rid of, because it is merely a humorous label for the aspect of human nature that has people all over the world willing to pay more for housing and accept less pay to live in a place they consider "paradise." ]
Lets get real ok, if you gave someone an option to pay 1,500 for an apartment in Oahu or 1,000. I bet most would choose 1,000 right? Lets not cherry coat what the "paradise tax" is. It just a polite term for "Lets charge as high as humanly possible for rents just short of rioting". Another words greed. The excuse for this behavior is "People all over the world are willing to pay more for housing and accept less pay to live in a place they consider "paradise."
Im sorry i don't mean to come across as cras or "wit stink" but the solution for affordable housing isn't going to be in encouraging the behavior that got us there in the first place. And the first step to social change is to educate people on what
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I have to comment here. As a landlord in Hawaii, I had a property in Hawaii Kai and my mortgage was $900 above the rent I was able to get for monthly rent, and in addition I had a $450 monthly maintenance fee to cover, plus the GET tax of about $1200 per year, plus property tax of $2400 per year. Let's charge as much as humanly possible? Hardly!
Now I know there are some large investors, and I am sure their numbers look some what better than mine, but ANY landlord in Hawaii makes his money by waiting out the real estate cycle (about 10-12 years) and makes their money on the sale, not the rent.
By the way, my tenants did over $8,000 in damage to my property and the renters wife told me I should cover their intentional damage to my property because I was "rich" because I owned 2 homes and she didn't own a home.
Blaming landlords makes for good press, but the problem is the amount of land tied up in state set asides that aren't developed (creating shortages in housing land available), Hawaiian property laws until the 1970's era (fee simple was introduced to replace lease hold), greed in state and local government for tax dollars (GET & property taxes are outrageous for the services provided), and an incoherent, corrupt, and incompetent zoning approval process.
The problems in expense for Hawaiian housing are mostly political process driven, not landlord driven.
But that's more of the same... luxury housing... the big deficit is in housing for low and medium incomes.
I understand the central issue. It's more profitable per unit to build luxury housing, but there's certainly money to be made building regular housing for regular folks. Who's going to step up to the plate?
It isn't as luxury as they are making it sound - but it isn't low end either. And, it is only more profitable to build luxury housing if you have buyers willing to take those units quickly.
Anyway, I'd say there is huge demand for higher end housing and is just as much of a deficit as low end housing judging by the 20 something construction cranes I see around town. One would think some of those new owners are moving up and letting go of their lower end housing already paid off.
I agree that single family residences are not the solution to Oahu's housing shortage, but I don't think high-rises are the answer either.
Another style I quite like is the way that Japan does it. Basically, you might have a lot of singe-family homes, but they are quite condensed together, with a ton of amenities nearby as well - i.e. 7-11 on the corner, a few tiny little restaurants taking up little space not far away as well either, on and on.
Oahu suffers from a lot of that typical American zoning all over the place, with residential here, and business there, with way too much empty space throughout. I mean, it works on the Mainland with unlimited land, but in Oahu, it needs to densify and become more convenient/walkable being there is near perfect climate, and limited space.
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