"I've been looking around," said Suyeoka, a 52-year-old registered nurse, whose landlord sold the unit she's living in. "It's really crazy right now. It's definitely a landlord's market."

Her landlord, taking advantage of Hawai'i's hot real-estate market, sold the Waikiki unit. The new owner said Suyeoka can stay in her tiny apartment until her lease expires in September. After that, he couldn't guarantee that the rent — now $1,000 for a 333-square-foot unit — won't go up.

So Suyeoka is considering her options, which now include doubling up with family — either moving in with her sister in Manoa or saving money to build an extension onto her parents' Kaimuki home.

"I guess that's the price of paradise," she said, shrugging.

Suyeoka is one of many Hawai'i renters who are making tough decisions about their living arrangements, thanks to today's inflated housing market.

Skyrocketing rents — fueled by rising real-estate values, which have spurred owners to sell off their rental properties and shrink supply — are driving lifestyle shifts among renters. They're sharing rentals with strangers, even moving back home as adults, and often paying more for less.

SHARING SPACES

Kathleen Grubbs moved out of a McCully home she had shared with two other University of Hawai'i graduate students six months ago. She decided she needed her own space.

But after a month of searching, Grubbs couldn't find anything she could afford on her own. She found herself back with roommates, sharing a Kaimuki home with a brother and sister. She pays $600 a month, which includes basic utilities.

Though she had to compromise on privacy and space, Grubbs, 28, said she's "pretty happy with the situation. I've heard worse."

She'd prefer to live on her own, but finding a place near UH in her price range — $1,000 would be stretching it — proved too difficult. She once went to see a Manoa studio so small it could barely fit a bed and a desk. The owners were asking $800 a month.

"I would say there is a crisis for renters," she said. "If I end up having to move again, I don't know what's going to be available. What I can afford isn't going to change, but my options will be limited when the prices go up."

A working professional, Fitha Dahana pays $1,100 a month for her tiny studio in Waikiki. And that's too much.

She'd like to find a roommate to share the cost of a better place, but finding one has been difficult.

"I'm very fussy about who I live with," said Dahana, 30, who works in advertising. "It has to be someone I know and trust."

She's hoping to rent a room with her friends, who share a five-bedroom house in Kaimuki. Her monthly rent would be $450, allowing her to save money.

Ideally, Dahana would like to find an affordable, pet-friendly rental to share with her beagle, Sierra, who's now living with a friend. But she's not hopeful.

"This market is crazy," she said. "It's just so hard."

TIGHT SUPPLY

Demand continues to fuel the rental market, which has shrunk significantly in recent years, experts say. That, in addition to Hawai'i's surging home values, has pushed rental rates to their highest in nearly two decades.

"It's a seller's market right now," said local market researcher Ricky Cassiday. "If you track condo values and rental rates, they're pretty parallel."

Renters make up about 40 percent of the state's population, yet hardly any rental property has been built in Honolulu in recent years. And those who invested in real estate are unloading their rentals to profit from the state's super-hot housing market.

Last month the median price for a single-family home on O'ahu reached $610,000. As prices climbed, though, the number of units for sale dropped — an indication of a dwindling supply. Experts say that has boosted home prices and, accordingly, rent.

"Inventory is terrible right now, it's the lowest I've seen in 30 years," said Roy Ogawa of Ogawa Realty & Management Inc. "And rent is the highest it's been in a long time ... People are paying a premium on homes and they want a return on their investments. So of course, rent will go up."

Ogawa manages studios that rented for about $500 three years ago. Those same units are now going for close to $1,000, and he doesn't see relief for renters in the near future.

"The market is still going strong and we don't see it slowing down," said Ogawa, who has been in the business for 25 years. "Supply is continually shrinking and demand is continually growing."

Lori Masuno, 47, decided to move out of her one-bedroom Salt Lake apartment after her landlord raised the monthly rent by $100 to $725.

After almost four months of searching — and considering living with a roommateÊ— she found a one-bedroom unit in upper Nu'uanu that she liked. The rent is higher than her previous rental — $825 including utilities — but it's bigger and closer to town. She considers herself very lucky.

"It's hard to wait for a place to come up," said Masuno, a divorced mother of two. "It's all about supply and demand. Everybody wants a place to live ... The housing market is really bad right now."