New teachers need 22 years to amass home down payment

Schools are a key consideration to many homebuyers. Parents usually pay a premium to live near the best schools.

And the best schools continuously recruit and retain the best teachers. But as housing prices continue to rise, teachers across the nation are having a hard time affording a home in the areas where they teach.

A recent study found that starting teachers in Hawaii would need to save for more than 22 years before they could afford the standard 20 percent down payment on a median-priced home here.

That is the third longest in the nation, behind only the San Francisco Unified School District (nearly 30 years) and the Capistrano (Calif.) Unified School District (25-1/2 years), according to the analysis by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, it would take just about 2-1/2 years for a teacher to afford a down payment on a home in the Detroit Public Schools Community District and three years in the San Antonio Independent School District.

The Washington, D.C.-based think tank studied 124 large school districts across the country. On average it would take a teacher a decade of saving 10 percent of their starting salary to save enough for a 20 percent down payment on a median-priced home in their district.

The estimates were based on beginning Hawaii teachers with a bachelor’s degree earning an average of $45,963, slightly higher than the national average of $43,806.

The NCTQ study found it would take 18 years for even experienced isle teachers with five years of experience and a master’s degree, who earn on average $57,546, to afford a 20 percent down payment in Hawaii.

“In some districts, saving up for the recommended down payment of 20 percent or meeting mortgage obligations is beyond a teacher’s means, even for a teacher who is at the higher end of the salary schedule,” the council said in a statement. “That problem is particularly acute in school districts located in the West and Northeast.”

NCTQ also found beginning teachers would have to spend 40 percent of their income to pay the rent of a modest one-bedroom apartment in the Aloha State, which averages $1,546. That’s well above the recommended 30 percent limit of housing affordability. Veteran educators with five years of experience would spend 32 percent of their wages.

Cities across the nation are exploring ways to help teachers afford homes. For example, San Francisco has committed a plot of land and $44 million toward building affordable housing for teachers, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle.

In Indianapolis the city and community groups are establishing a “teacher village” with affordable homes that will be available next year.

The NCTQ study also found that Hawaii was among just eight districts where a teacher will never be able to dedicate the recommended 30 percent or less of their pay to housing, even when earning the maximum teacher salary.

Let’s be real. A study could have been done on any profession in Hawaii and resulted in similar findings. It’s a struggle to buy a home in high-priced Hawaii, regardless of occupation. But teachers should be able to afford to live in the communities where they teach, and should not be exiled to Detroit to achieve homeownership.

Hawaii needs to create programs and incentives to attract and keep the best and brightest educators in the islands. They are worth the investment and so are our children.

Jaymes Song is a top-producing agent with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Advantage Realty in Kahala. He can be reached at 228-3332 or JaymesS@BetterHawaii.com.