2011 Housing Planning Study - Inventory Report

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Single-family units were somewhat larger than on other islands, with a median size of 1,700 square feet versus 1,400 or 1,500 on other islands. As is true in all island communities, space is a limited resource and periods of high demand tend to favor production of smaller units. Most Hawaii single-family homes in the 2010 inventory (45 percent) were between 750 and 1,500 square feet in area under roof. Oahu had the lowest rate of out-of-state owners in the inventory. Just over nine percent of all units were owned by people living outside the State. Among these non-resident homeowners, eleven percent lived outside the United States, which is the highest percentage of foreign homeowners in Hawaii. COUNTY OF HAWAII Despite the global recession, housing development in the County of Hawaii has continued at a pace slightly higher than the rest of the State. Since 2006, nearly 10,500 new housing units have been constructed on the Island, the largest increase in total housing units among all the counties. The Census Bureau counted 82,324 housing units in the County in July 2010. The total number of occupied housing units was 67,096. The total number of housing units available to the residential housing market (available units) would be between those two numbers. The 2011 HHPS housing inventory tells us that 77,424 units were available in 2010". Close to three- quarters of the housing units in the County of Hawaii were almost evenly divided among Puna (Zone 31, 22 percent), South Hilo (Zone 32, 26 percent), and North-Kona (Zone 37, 23 percent). As in the past, Hawaii County's 2010 housing inventory was dominated by single-family units. The island's 60,658 single-family units made up fully 78 percent of the total housing stock. The County moved up to 12,080 multi-family units, but that was up only about one percentage point since 2006. Hawaii Island does have over 800 student units, giving it the second rank in that category, but overall the housing stock is distinguished primarily by its homogeneity. Housing Stock Growth Rates Hawaii County's housing stock numbered 77,424 housing units in 2010. That was up from 66,946 in 2006. The average annual growth rate was the highest of all the counties at 3.91 percent per annum. The County growth rate has been consistently high since the Housing Policy Study began and has been growing by almost a full percentage point since 1997. In one sense, however, the County's production rates are similar to all other counties. Whether rates are high or low, they remain relatively constant over time, suggesting that all counties are characterized by relatively stable rates of supply regardless of how demand might change. The County of Hawaii housing inventory rose by 10,478 housing units in the four years since the last Housing Policy Study. The number of single-family units went up by 7,925 and the multi-family inventory grew by 2,564 units. The average annual growth rate for single-family units was 3.8 percent per year and about 4.8 percent per year for multi-family units. Both rates were up slightly from 2006. 17 Please refer to Sources of Inventory Data on page 4 for a complete explanation of the reasons for the differences in total housing unit counts between U.S. Census data and HHPS data. Hawari Housing Planning Study,2011 -Inventory Report Page 10 0 SMS, Inc. November,2011