Hawaii leads nation in homeownership increase

Hawaii led the nation with a 1.2% increase in its rate of homeownership between 2010 to 2020, one of only five states with a positive rate change over the decade, according to the latest U.S. census.

Despite the progress, however, Hawaii, with its high cost of buying a home, remained a bottom-five state when it comes to the number of homes occupied by their owners.

Hawaii’s homeownership rate in 2020 was 58.8%.

The U.S. homeownership rate hit its lowest point in five decades, dropping by 2 percentage points to 63.1%, the Census Bureau said Thursday.

Forty-five states and the District of Columbia all experienced declining homeownership rates over the decade.

Not so in Hawaii, which pushed its homeownership rate to 58.8% from 57.5%—a 1.3 percentage-point difference. The Aloha State was followed by Alaska, Idaho, South Carolina and Wyoming, the only other states to see their rates rise over 10 years.

State chief economist Eugene Tian said construction of workforce housing as part of the condo boom in the Kakaako area starting in 2015 was largely responsible for pushing up the state’s homeownership rate.

Between 30% and 40% of those condominiums were priced for workforce housing, which is affordable to qualified working folks, often couples with two incomes or young professionals, Tian said.

But, he said, they are not considered affordable enough for most people.

“Affordability is still blocking people from owning their own homes,” Tian said.

“Demand is strong. We need 10,000 new units a year based on pent-up demand, but a lot of people are doubling up with their parents.”

The low homeownership rate is reflected in the number of renters here.

While renter-occupied housing accounts for 36.9% of housing nationwide, in Hawaii it’s 41.2%, according to the 2020 census.

What’s more, there are more vacant houses in Hawaii:12.6% compared with the national average of 9.7%.

Real estate analyst Stephany Sofos said she suspects Hawaii’s homeownership rate was propped up by a growing percentage of people, largely aging Asians, who were downsizing into a condominium and giving their homes to a son or daughter or even grandchild.

In addition, scores of out-of-state buyers were snapping up homes in Hawaii, she said.