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I moved to Hawaii in September last year. My rent for a small 400sf 1 bedroom is $1310. A few weeks ago we received a noticed that the owner wants to sell our apartment so we need to look for a new place. I have been looking on Craigslist and other places since and I was shocked to find out rent for 1 bedroom apartment in the same area I live stars from $1800 now! And this is for ugly old buildings and condos! How can the rent go up with $500 and more just for half a year? What is going on with the rental market! According to a rental statistic 1 bedroom apartment in Honolulu as of 12/14 was $1884, compared to 1/14 when it was $1474. See here this shocking data https://www.rentjungle.com/average-r...u-rent-trends/
How can people even afford to pay their rent anymore while salaries don't go up!
Last edited by aloha22808; 03-06-2015 at 10:27 AM..
It's a tough issue really. Rents have been going up quite quickly in Honolulu.
Part of that has to do with the increases in the price of real estate. The cost to purchase a Unit has also increased substantially in many area's of Honolulu. Add to that the fact that many HOA fee's that the owners must pay has also gone up substantially.
And if your Unit is in the general Waikiki area, there is still a lot of demand for the Units even at the higher rents.
A couple examples: I own a unit in a very nice building in Waikiki. Two years ago you would often see units there for rent in the $1,600 range. Today, on craigslist I find 2 units available for rent at $2,200 and one of them even says it does not include GET. At the same time, 2 years ago you could buy a unit for about $280,000. Today, the lowest priced Unit available is $380,000 and they go up to $700,000 for a 1 bedroom depending on view.
I've also looked into purchasing a unit in the building next door. However, the lowest priced 1-bedroom Unit for sale is currently $399,000 with a $714 per month HOA Fee. Add to that the cost of a property manager, insurance, GET Tax, property tax, etc and you can quickly see that the rent would need to be very high in order to just come close to a break-even point.
I don't know if rents are increasing all around Honolulu the same way they are in close.
But if you can, you may want to consider renting outside of the inner core of the city ... or buying your own unit. Buying your own unit helps contain rising costs generally ... the HOA is the biggest wild card in that scenario.
While I know buying may not be in the cards, here are two example of similar sized units to yours that if you could swing a downpayment, your monthly payment wouldn't be too much different than what you pay today in rent. Plus you can write off the interest and tax portions of the payment. Both of these examples have a low purchase price (relatively) and low HOA fees) and I think would make a great alternative to renting and help contain your costs long run while adding the extra incentive a income tax write off that you don't get while renting. (Just a suggestion ... I understand it is not the primary point of your post though)
I moved to Hawaii in September last year. My rent for a small 400sf 1 bedroom is $1310. A few weeks ago we received a noticed that the owner wants to sell our apartment so we need to look for a new place. I have been looking on Craigslist and other places since and I was shocked to find out rent for 1 bedroom apartment in the same area I live stars from $1800 now! And this is for ugly old buildings and condos! How can the rent go up with $500 and more just for half a year? What is going on with the rental market! [/url]
How can people even afford to pay their rent anymore while salaries don't go up!
That sounds about right. The rentals I offer have gone up nearly 50% the past few years. The economy is doing so well in Honolulu and I don't see rent increases stopping anytime soon. Unemployment is very low.
It sounds like you need to find another type of employment - wages are definitely going up, it comes down to supply and demand. Clearly people can afford it or the rent would go down.
If people can afford it how about all the increasing homeless population? I think for people with money it can feel that way but not for the regular folks. According to the Bureau of Labor the average wage in Hawaii is 21.84. I do make more than that and I still find it hard. Also jobs are overall less paid here than on the mainland. There is a new story on the news today that computer programmers make 41,000 on the average in Hawaii for example (vs. 66,000 on the mainland). If landlords keep increasing their rates there won't be as many people who can afford living here anymore. Even if unemployment is low here, jobs simply don't pay for such high rents. I don't think some ugly places like this one BEACH, SCHOOL, WORK, SHOPPING... starting $1795 justify the price.
If people can afford it how about all the increasing homeless population?
I think for people with money it can feel that way but not for the regular folks. According to the Bureau of Labor the average wage in Hawaii is 21.84. I do make more than that and I still find it hard. Also jobs are overall less paid here than on the mainland. There is a new story on the news today that computer programmers make 41,000 on the average in Hawaii for example (vs. 66,000 on the mainland). If landlords keep increasing their rates there won't be as many people who can afford living here anymore. Even if unemployment is low here, jobs simply don't pay for such high rents.
There are less than 5,000 homeless on Oahu - less than comparable sized cities like San Francisco or less than smaller sized cities like Portland. Once you take the drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill, and people who just choose to not work - you don't have people who are homeless because they can't afford rent.
Get a roommate. Or a girlfriend/boyfriend. Or move. That is how other people do it. Landlords are raising rates because that is what people are willing to pay.
There are less than 5,000 homeless on Oahu - less than comparable sized cities like San Francisco or less than smaller sized cities like Portland. Once you take the drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill, and people who just choose to not work - you don't have people who are homeless because they can't afford rent.
Get a roommate. Or a girlfriend/boyfriend. Or move. That is how other people do it. Landlords are raising rates because that is what people are willing to pay.
Yes, that's true about the homeless, but I think this whole thing is just now getting worse and worse. I think here in Hawaii many people are used to sharing a place with their ohana. They have to do that to save on rent. I'm married and we both work full-time (both have college degrees), but I still find it hard. I have co-workers who agree. Some have even relocated to the mainland because they get paid more there. For now landlords may increase rents, but we will see how long this will continue. I see many rentals on craigslist that stay there for some time and then suddenly the rent is decreased slightly because no one rented it. Another building I looked into recently also offers one bedrooms for around $1,800. The manager told me that many units have been vacant for many months. So now they are converting them into short-term rentals for construction workers who come here from out of state and who can afford them for the duration of their project here.
If people can afford it how about all the increasing homeless population? I think for people with money it can feel that way but not for the regular folks. According to the Bureau of Labor the average wage in Hawaii is 21.84. I do make more than that and I still find it hard. Also jobs are overall less paid here than on the mainland. There is a new story on the news today that computer programmers make 41,000 on the average in Hawaii for example (vs. 66,000 on the mainland). If landlords keep increasing their rates there won't be as many people who can afford living here anymore. Even if unemployment is low here, jobs simply don't pay for such high rents. I don't think some ugly places like this one BEACH, SCHOOL, WORK, SHOPPING... starting $1795 justify the price.
Rent is all about location. There are PLENTY of inexpensive places to rent on Oahu. They just aren't in town. And this isn't unique to Hawaii. The same phenomena exists in virtually every single metro on the planet.
Its funny its five thousand homeless for a population of 1 million. Thats bad. For Oregon with one of the worst homeless issues in the mainland it is 4,000 homeless men, women and childern. In a state that has about 4 million people. Yes when you think 5,000 its not alot but compared to the population of oahu its huge. Let not forget that alot of former oahu residents have fleed to other islands. As for the stats of migration off the islands, none of them tell the real story of who is leaving and who is staying. Further another situation not mentioned is alot of the mainland homeless in high homeless cities are people who are drifters from other areas of the country passing thru or staying for the weather. Unlike hawaii which is thousands of miles from the next land mass which there homeless are resident. Its easy to pawn off the homeless as drug addicts or make social economic issues a thing of morality but according to some stats 22% of Hawaii’s homeless have some form of employment and 27% were children.
Its funny its five thousand homeless for a population of 1 million. Thats bad. For Oregon with one of the worst homeless issues in the mainland it is 4,000 homeless men, women and childern. In a state that has about 4 million people. Yes when you think 5,000 its not alot but compared to the population of oahu its huge.
Let not forget that alot of former oahu residents have fleed to other islands.
I don't believe many residents of Oahu move to the outer islands where pay is lower and jobs harder to find. Let's see some statistics.
Let me fix your post. The city of Portland, population 600,000 has 4,000 homeless.
Unlike oahu the city of portland is where the homeless services are for the state of oregon. Thus the homeless in portland are the Homeless of the state. Sure there is homeless in eugene and salem but nothing remotely even close to portland because there are no real services in those areas.
There is no specific stats on who is migrating off oahu and you know it. But you do have a few on here who have fled oahu because of the changes and cost of living. I believe that problem is far worse then you chose to acknowledge.
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