2011 Housing Planning Study - Inventory Report

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Inventory Report is a key component of the Hawaii Housing Planning Study (HHPS). The number and types of housing units in the housing stock is a direct result of Hawaii's housing production and consumption activity in the past. Details of the inventory should be consistent with housing plans and policies in the present. Understanding the changes in the stock is the basis for housing forecasting and for housing planning in the future. Mirroring the population distribution, we find in 2010 that 65 percent of the State's 519,508 housing units were located in the City & County of Honolulu. Fully 82,324 units (16 percent) were located in the County of Hawaii, 70,492 units (14 percent) were situated in Maui County, and the remaining 6 percent (29,793 units) were found in the County of Kauai'. In the past four years, the total housing stock for the State has increased by four percent (19,487 units). Newly added units were mostly single family and condominium units. According to the HHPS Inventory data, almost 60 percent of housing units statewide were single-family dwellings. Multi-family units marketed as condominium units accounted for another 27 percent, and 10 percent of the State's housing units were apartments. Military, student, and cooperative housing made up the rest of the State's housing units. Hawaii's housing units have an average age of 35 years for single-family units and 29 years for condominium units. As is true for all island communities, space is a limited resource and periods of high demand tend to favor production of smaller units. The average single-family housing unit in the 2011 inventory had about 1,600 square feet in area under roof. Hawaii's lot sizes are quite small relative to other U.S. markets, with an average size of about 14,700 square feet versus more than 20,000 square feet nationwide. Hawaii has a reputation for being one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation. This distinction is supported in the inventory by its median assessed value of $530,800 for single-family homes and $302,800 for condominiums in 2010. National data show Honolulu's median single-family home price at $579,300 and $311,100 for condominium unitS2 in the first quarter of 2011. The inventory's median value assessments were lower than in 2006, but higher than in 2003. This is again consistent with the widely accepted view of Hawaii home prices rising rapidly, holding for somewhat longer than expected, and falling more slowly than in comparable housing markets across the country. The National Association of Realtors' data show that, while Honolulu has the highest prices in the nation, our single-family home prices dropped about seven percent between 2008 and 2011. Homes in comparable high-end markets fell between 25 and 35 percent. In recent years, the number of sources of housing data and the level of detail available on housing have increased dramatically. The 2000 Decennial Census captured housing data in significantly greater detail and the American Community Survey (ACS) now provides information on housing stock for states and counties on an annual basis. In this iteration of the study, we integrate the Tax Map Key (TMK) based inventory data of the past and the ACS data of the last eight years. In the future, we intend to rely more heavily on the Census data, thus increasing utility and accuracy while decreasing project cost. 1 The approximately 100 housing units located in Kalawoao are not included in this analysis. 2 National Association of Realtors at www.realtor.org. Hawari Housing Planning Study,2011 -Inventory Report Page 1 0 SMS, Inc. November,2011