Single people in Honolulu pay the second-highest housing cost of any of the 89 cities in a recent survey.
Personal finance website GOBanking.com rates Honolulu the fourth most expensive city for singles in the U.S., with an average rent cost of $2.60 per square foot, which is the second highest among the cities; an $80 average wardrobe staple; and, among other factors, a $134 cost for a date night.
The most expensive U.S. cities for singles are San Francisco, New York and Washington, according to the survey.
GOBanking evaluated cities according to four expense categories, including rent per square foot, clothing costs, gym memberships and the cost of a date night that would include dinner for two, a bottle of wine, two movie tickets and a 10-mile taxi ride.
The cheapest cities for singles were Reno, Nev.; Tucson, Ariz.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Tacoma, Wash.; and Indianapolis.
Strong home sales lift U.S. home prices
WASHINGTON >> U.S. home prices rose steadily in May, pushed higher by a healthy increase in sales this year.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, which doesn’t include Honolulu, climbed 4.9 percent in May from 12 months earlier, down slightly from a 5 percent pace in April, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Home sales have jumped in recent months as an improving economy boosts hiring and enables more people to afford a purchase. Yet the higher sales haven’t encouraged more people to sell their homes, leaving supplies tight and driving up prices.
Consumer confidence hits 10-month low
WASHINGTON >> U.S. consumer confidence fell this month to the lowest level since September on consumer worries about the job market and events in Greece and China.
The Conference Board said Tuesday that its index of consumer confidence fell to 90.9 in July from a revised 99.8 in June. That’s the lowest since September’s reading of 89.
Consumers’ assessment of current conditions fell slightly to a still-healthy 107.4 from 110.3 in June; but their outlook for the next six months dropped sharply to 79.9 this month, the lowest since February 2014 and down from 92.8 in June.
Microsoft debuts Windows 10 system
SAN FRANCISCO >> Microsoft’s new Windows 10 operating system debuts Wednesday, as the longtime leader in PC software hopes that giving the upgrade away for free will help it carve out a new role in a world where people increasingly rely on smartphones, tablets and information stored online.
The company is counting on tens or even hundreds of millions of people to download its latest release in the coming months. Many people also will get Windows 10 as part of new PCs.
The launch will be accompanied by a global marketing campaign for an event the company hopes will be pivotal — both for its own future and for a vast audience of computer users around the world.
Windows 10 is coming to PCs and tablets first, but it’s also designed to run phones, game consoles and even holographic headsets. It has new features, a streamlined Web browser called Edge and a desktop version of Cortana, the online assistant that is Microsoft’s answer to Google Now and Apple’s Siri.
Still, the company insists Windows 10 will seem familiar to users of Windows 7, the 6-year-old operating system still running on most PCs.
Microsoft and PC makers want to erase the memory of the last big update, 2012’s Windows 8, which alienated many with its jarring, unwieldy design.
SBA loans resume after limit raised
NEW YORK >> Small businesses are again able to get loans backed by the federal government.
President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday a bill raising the lending authority for the Small Business Administration’s biggest loan program, known as the 7(a) program. Loan approvals resumed after going on hold Thursday, when the SBA reached its $18.75 billion annual limit for loan guarantees.
The law, the bill for which won final passage by the House on Monday, raises the lending limit to $23.5 billion.
ON THE MOVE
Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Advantage Realty has announced that Realtor associate Rachel Arita Wright has joined its Kahala office. Her experience includes work in asset management for the federal government as well as loan processing.
Wilcox Memorial Hospital has recognized radiologist Dr. John Culliney on his induction as a Fellow in the American College of Radiology. He is one of 100 American College of Radiology members who were inducted to this year’s Fellowship, and the only Fellow inducted from Hawaii.
