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STAR-ADVERTISER / AUG. 2013
Waikapu, Wailuku and Kahului are experiencing rapid development.
WAILUKU >> The median price of a single-family home in Maui County has climbed to $630,000 for the first half of 2016, a sum real estate experts say is pricing locals out of the market.
Realtors Association of Maui President Jeannie Wenger said home sales for the first half of the year have primarily been to locals for houses below the median price and to off-island buyers who can pay $600,000 and above, The Maui News reported.
Local buyers can only afford to pay a fixed amount based on the income from their job or jobs, she said.
“What local people can actually afford based on lender criteria is not usually $600,000,” she said.
The Realtors Association of Maui report noted a 5 percent increase in the median price of homes compared to last year in the same period. The number of units sold also rose, up 7 percent to 531 units in the January-to-June period.
At the end of 2000, the median price of a single-family home was $275,000. Prices have risen 2.3 times higher since then and Wenger said local incomes have not kept pace.
When the recession hit, many Maui residents faced foreclosures and lost their homes. Investors then came in and purchased the lower-priced foreclosed properties and flipped them for higher prices.
“Now prices are out of reach of local people,” she said.
Wenger said one of the biggest problems in the county is inventory, as there are not enough single-family homes available.
She said the lower-end single-family properties — under $400,000 — are not in good shape and often have unpermitted structures and illegal rentals. Because of the problems they may not qualify for loans.
“That kind of speaks to the bigger picture,” Wenger said.
IF THE SELLER OF THE HOMES PROMISE LOCALS AFFORDABLE HOMES IT SHOULD STAY
AFFORDABLE .NOT RISE THE PRICE JUST BECAUSE HIS NOT MAKING ENOUGH MONEY
TO PUT IN HIS OWN POCKETS .NOT EVERYONE HAS THE SAME INCOME TLO PAY DOUBLE
WHAT WAS PROMISED IN THE BEGINING !!!
Can I buy your car from you for half the Kelly blue book value just because I don’t have enough money to pay you full value?
Immigration from out-of-state is the root cause of escalating house prices. Real estate is supply and demand and it’s a seller’s market: high demand and low supply. It’s pricing us locals out of our own home!
should’ve made it a law that you have to be a resident to buy property in hawaii..too late for that now
It’s never too late as long as we don’t give up hope and keep on fighting for what is ours…
how many local families can afford a $700,000 home?..yeah i say it’s too late..should’ve stopped it when the homes were only $300,000
Itʻs not too late but though it should be will be hard to reverse it and put it into the law. If it was put into law the price of houses would absolutely go lower. Which is good the the islands.
Tried that in the 1960s but the ACLU stopped the legislature from enacting that law as it was deemed unconstitutional (cannot limit freedom of movement). High prices are a limiting factor but the first people priced out of the market are local folks.
The only developer who kept their promise to keep homes lower no matter what the market value was Jesse Spencer of Spencer Homes. When you got the lottery, no matter how long it took to build the affordable or market value home, it was the same price. They fulfilled every requirement of the county. They didn’t have too, but they built 50% of their homes affordable. I got one in 2007.
There are legal limits to the number of both B&B’s and Short Term Vacation rentals which may be operated in each area of Maui. There is a clear, recently simplified application process to obtain the license to do so. The majority of short term vacation rentals (except possibly in Kihei) are NOT legal; do not have licenses. Advertising them (directly or indirectly) without including your
license # (Not the excise tax #!) is evidence enough for an investigation. BUT, our local government chooses not to vigorously enforce, if enforce at all. And so wealthy visitors price local residents out of Hawaii. And since the lack of enforcement is well known, the value of properties goes up to meet the vacation rental market value, increasing sales prices, and hard working Maui families are just out of luck. Mayor Arakawa, get off the dime and get the Zoning and Enforcement Division of the Maui County Planning Department to start actively enforcing the laws and rules. They now DO have the staff. And the law, the rules, the process. But not your strong encouragement or support!