Beachgoers walk by the Kapaemahu stones at Waikiki beach in Honolulu, June 28.If you’ve always dreamed of living on a beach in Hawaii, you might be surprised to learn that your retirement fantasy is a source of controversy. Instead of welcoming outsiders with open arms, many Hawaii residents these days would prefer you never buy a home here in the first place.
Hawaii politicians have embraced the outsider theory. At the county and state levels, they have proposed taxes and regulations to discourage out-of-state buyers. Counties have passed ordinances banning nearly all short-term vacation rentals outside zoned resort areas on the theory that some of those houses are being bought by outsiders.
But if outsiders aren’t responsible, who is? The research did find a very weak correlation between county-level home prices and out-of-state buyers. But that was dwarfed by the strong relationship between home prices and the level of land-use, zoning and other homebuilding-related regulations. It isn’t outsiders who are making Hawaii’s homes ridiculously expensive. It’s the state’s own politicians, who have spent decades piling on just these sorts of regulations.
opinion I did it in the Philippines for 1/5 the cost!
opinion Politicians that have never met a developer they didn't like. Locals that have vacation rentals, people that don't even live here buying investment properties, the cost of shipping building materials here. Not to mention you have to grease the planning and permitting section.
opinion “Were you grew here, or were you flew here?”
opinion Hawaii is overrated! PR is better.
opinion $ money $