How did Honolulu Real Estate Get So Expensive?

Simple Economics. Too many people, not enough homes

When median prices are $742,000 for Single Family Homes (SFHs) and $385,000 for condos, you start to wonder how Honolulu Real Estate got so expensive.  At Locations, we provide comprehensive monthly market reports on real estate trends which show that median prices are high. What you may not know is we also analyze the reasons why it has changed so dramatically over time.  
You may be thinking that this requires extensive research and complicated analysis.  It's actually pretty easy to understand.  We've had market conditions for the past few decades that have been slowly putting more and more pressure on the housing market until it reached the point we're at now.  Years of shrinking inventory and increasing demand have created a highly competitive real estate market that resembles San Francisco or New York.  Here is a simple formula that will explain the basics.  

These conditions have been intensifying for quite a while and that build up has led to the market we have now.  Looking back at the past 46 years since Locations was founded and started collecting data, you can easily trace these high prices to a combination of factors.  ​

The Story of How we got Here

The market conditions described above kept putting more and more pressure on the market, forcing prices to adjust in order to keep up with demand.  This is a great starting point for your education if you're starting to look at potential homes and a perfect resource to those who are curious as to how things got to this point.  Read the "Story of the Market" in the slideshow below to see exactly how we got here.