Census: Homes, rent in Hawai'i most expensive

By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer

Call it the sunshine tax or call it sticker shock, but the latest census survey confirms what Hawai'i house hunters and apartment dwellers already know: Living here is more expensive than just about anywhere else in the country.

When it comes to state rankings, we're tops in median home price and in rent, according to the Census 2000 Supplemental Survey released this week of 700,000 households across the nation.

The median home here costs $284,000, a good deal more than California's second-place ranking at $215,600. And rents here are pricey, too, with the median gross rent coming in at $813, compared with $612 in the rest of the country and a low of $408 in West Virginia.

Property owner Xavier Ching can attest to the supply and demand that keeps Hawai'i housing prices high.

He has had about 70 calls for a $675 one-bedroom apartment in Kapahulu he has for rent.

"I set my price up to what the market will bear, and I come down a little, so I have a lot of applicants to choose from," said Ching, who has seen rental demand increase in the past few years.

If a tenant leaves, he said he can easily fill an apartment within a week.

The census housing survey doesn't mean the affordable housing outlook is dismal, state economist Pearl Imada Iboshi said.

When comparing city-by-city, a similar survey released last month ranked Honolulu as the 46th most expensive place to live, she said. State-by-state rankings can skew the numbers, she said.

"Being a small state has its good and bad points," she said. "When you look at statewide numbers, it reflects a bias on small, urban states."

Reach Tanya Bricking at tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8026.