People from around the world have been seduced by a certain Hawaii, a healthy and soothing island with a great quality of life, only to be driven away by the costs of getting by.
Hell, even in Detroit, the real estate market is going bananas. My neighbor just sold his condo (same basic thing as mine) for well over double what I paid 2.5 years ago. It's insanity, but I think it's a good trend that so many people want to live in cities. The suburban thing can't just keep expanding to infinity. Our generation seems much happier than our parents to have walkable neighborhoods, amenities close by, and a better sense of community. I hated the suburb where I grew up (you know it--Rochester Hills, MI) for it's stale atmosphere, sterile lack of charm and parceled land plots. I'll take the crime here in Detroit if it means that I get 6 bars withing three blocks of my house, a bakery, a grocery store and small, locally owned retail shops all a short walk away (not to mention the chance to get to live in a building with 100 year old stonework adorning the facade; not gonna see that in the burbs).
Unfortunately, the suburbs are still expanding. Urban areas and suburbs both are. It's rural areas that are declining in raw population in many places. This is a wonderful map. Cities are much more efficient when it comes to almost anything. Waste, transportation, infrastructure... The growing demand for urban living is certainly positive, but the burbs aren't dead yet.
Same with LA. I live in a wealthier neighborhood where you literally can't find anything under a million. Drive 20 minutes away from the beach and put bars on your windows and you are still looking at ~800 for a 1950's box house. Out of curiosity, where in Sydney are you? I lived in Surry Hills when I was there a couple years ago.
With a median income at $36k and a median house price of around $700k, there is something wrong. But then, when you move to paradise, you can't expect that it will be cheap. It also seems to be a case of supply and demand. Plenty of people already are. In the last 20 years, Hawaii’s population has grown by more than 40 percent, which helps to drive the price of land upward.
Demand is up.
Which sucks for people like me who live here and have lived here all of our lives. Granted, I'm just out of college and still live at home so my life isn't too bad but I know it sucks for a lot of people here. The traffic is horrible, rent is ridiculous, and there are just too many people here now days. I've always wanted to live in Washington or California and I can't wait until the day that I can make that dream come true.
I've heard Honolulu has the worst traffic in the nation, which was very surprising to me. How do people live if the jobs aren't high paying, but renting is ridiculous and owning clearly couldn't be an option for most people? Do people live in microapartments or something?
Most people rent, or like me, still live at home, even in their late 20's and 30's. Family is very big here and there is no shame in living at home for that long. In my family alone I have one uncle, one aunt, one great uncle, and a few cousins all living with their respective parents and they range in age from 35-55. One of my cousins is even married! The most telling sign of how bad it is here is that I work in a care home with 6 other people in my department. I just finished college and live at home. 3 of my coworkers are in their late 20's and all live at home because they can't afford to move out. The other 3 people in my department are over 60 and either have an apartment or a car, but not both. And this is including my boss. Also I have exactly 0 friends who have moved out of their parent's homes and they are all college graduates. Luckily for me I will be attending medical school next year so I should be okay with regards to my finances in the future (or at least I hope so).
But Brewbaker contends that the cost of moving materials to the islands is the least influential factor in driving up the cost of homes, with the regulatory environment for construction being the primary cost-driver. It is also something that, he says, could be changed. Just yesterday I learned about the Jones Act of 1920. One of the key provisions is that a foreign built or foreign flagged vessel cannot engage in coastwise trade within the United States. That means a foreign vessel cannot trade at one port in the US, and then another without going elsewhere in between. As a result ships from China cannot stop by Hawaii on their way to the continental US. Thus, most foreign goods arriving in Hawaii must first be unloaded on the mainland, then shipped back westward to Hawaii. I have to imagine that making an exception for Hawaii would significantly reduce the costs of a number of products. I wonder if Hawaii (or Alaska) has lobbied for such an exception, and if not, why.People who build homes, whether families or companies, also face high labor costs because Hawaii is heavily unionized, it is costly to ship building materials such as steel to the islands, and building necessary infrastructure like sewers and roads to facilitate housing development also add to the bottom line.