In the past decade, some 5,000 housing units have been sold statewide, with about one-quarter of the inventory being snapped up by nonresidents, according to to Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. About 200 went to foreign buyers, with the balance going to residents of other states.

While nonresident purchases made up 15% of sales on Oahu, it was upwards of 40% on Maui, Kauai and Hawaii island. A strong showing among California residents in this breakdown should not be surprising. The 2019 real property tax rate there was well over twice as steep as Hawaii’s rate, which is the lowest in the nation.

Isles already saying ‘rain, rain, go away’

It rained a bit over the weekend, causing repair projects on the Pali and Kuhio highways to backslide. Oh, you noticed?

Hilo folks surely noticed, even given that their town, as the wettest in America, gets a lot of rain all the time. On average, the annual rainfall approaches 130 inches. They got almost a quarter of that yearly total in the past weekend’s one, seemingly unending, storm. As flooding events go, Hurricane Lane in August 2018 was worse … but it’s only January. This may be a record-breaking year.