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ASD Staff

Today's social media find comes from jensonkona, who keeps on truckin'.

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: TACOMA FIGHT!

Today's social media find comes from waikikipd, on how to get the truth out of some low-life.

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Classic interrogation technique

Glad jackakrop19 is doing OK after this big wave wipeout at Jaws, on Maui's north shore.

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Surfer gets dropped

Today's social posts come from howsdisguy: Part one and two of talking story with your roughboy philosopher relative.

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: A comedy crime saga in two parts

Kveekz on Instagram is today's social media find, celebrating some pleasant surprises.

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: "A good day in Hawai‘i"

sis.on.a.mish's husband's moves had us wondering if he actually competed in Merrie Monarch, or if they just watched from home.

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Hawaiʻi Scene on Social: Check out this kāne's chore-ography

In today's social media find, krystilez demonstrates a shaka so minimal it barely exists.

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Introducing the "loose" shaka

Todayʻs social media find comes from jasonpolakaw, a collection of foil board fails.

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Curses, foiled again!

Today's social post comes to us from @jason.nomoa, who spent some time scrolling on Big Island Thieves, Hawaiʻi Island's "No. 1 source of theft, news and information happening in [the] community." Good Times Comedy Club will host Jason, among other comedians, in Hilo next month.

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Comedian's response to Facebook group posts

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Stephanie Salmons

Real Estate

In news that's probably not shocking to anyone who lives here, housing in Hawai‘i continues to face hurdles.

The University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization this week published its Hawai‘i Housing Factbook 2025, the third edition of an annual report analyzing the state's housing market.

The gist? Home prices are high. Housing production is slow. There are several obstacles in way of creating new homes. And the shifting U.S. home insurance market is driving up costs, resulting in higher home owner association fees and further reduced affordability. Some areas, though, are showing glimmers of betterment.

"The data in this report reflect a challenging housing landscape, though there are indications of moderate improvements," the report notes.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report, which can be 

— Most Hawai‘i households are unable to afford a mortgage for a single-family home at the median price of $950,000. Less than a quarter of households were able to do so in 2024.

"Affordability is still an enormous challenge, obviously, everywhere in the state," UHERO Associate Professor Justin Tyndall, who helped author the report, said during a news conference Wednesday. "[The] single-family home market over the past year, it's probably the least affordable it's ever been."

In 2024, the median price for a single-family home was about 6% higher than 2023 — and interest rates remain high, the report noted.

"This means single-family homes are extremely unaffordable for the majority of people," Tyndall said. "We find about only one in four people would have the income necessary to purchase a new home and carry that mortgage."

UHERO said that in 2024, a household would need to earn 190% of the state median income — about $187,000 — to afford a mortgage on a single-family home at the median price. In this situation, afford means spending no more than 30% of your gross income on mortgage payments.

[{"type":"text","text":"— By contrast, condominium prices declined slightly last year."}]

The median price for a condo was $600,000 in 2024, 6% lower than the previous year. UHERO said, though, that rising HOA fees may offset that gain.

According to UHERO, disruptions to the condo insurance market "made condo mortgages more difficult to secure," which dampened the demand. Meanwhile, more condos available in Honolulu, including many sold below market price through affordable housing programs, "helped contain price growth."

Tyndall said lower prices meant more people are able to afford a condominium.

"If we look over the last year, we're sort of in a better place than we were," he said. "There's more people out there who would be able to afford that first condominium than there were a year ago, because prices are down a little bit."

— UHERO noted in the report that "insurance premiums have been rising in response to an increase in catastrophic events."

After the August 2023 wild fires on Maui — which ravaged parts of the island and destroyed much of Lahaina — there was a "noticeable rise in insurance premiums" in Hawai‘i. A major provider has even left state entirely.

Owners of both single-family homes and condos saw rates increase, but UHERO noted that condominium owners faced bigger hikes.

[{"type":"text","text":"These higher premiums have led to higher HOA fees."}]

— Rents have been "remarkably stable over the past decade," Tyndall said. The affordability of the rental market is "quite bad," but he noted that it hasn't "deteriorated so much recently."

Rents have grown, but at a slower pace than national average, UHERO noted.

Hawai‘i previously had the highest median rent in the U.S., but now ranks second behind California.

— UHERO said the pace of new housing construction remains historically low and permitting times remain long, but some initiatives, like the Hawai‘i Public Housing Authority's 

 project, which aims to create more than 10,000 housing units across the state, and transit-oriented development around Honolulu's Skyline rail, aim to expand housing supply.

[{"type":"text","text":"— What will it take to get Hawai‘i out of its affordability crisis?"}]

Tyndall said year's report offers "the first signs that some of these initiatives to build particularly multi-family housing are paying some dividends in terms of affordability."

"Honolulu and the Big Island have been successful in at least marginally increasing housing supply and those counties have had lower rent growth than Kaua‘i and Maui, who haven't increased housing supply," he said. "I think that gives some proof that the increase in housing supply would improve affordability. But the bottom line is that housing is still way too unaffordable across all the counties, and this is an enormous challenge for people. I think we have a lot of policies to produce more housing that would help affordability, but if we wanted to get to a point where housing is much more affordable, we would need to build a lot more housing."

[{"type":"text","text":"— What's does all this mean for you? Aloha State Daily asked."}]

There are data points now suggesting that more housing has had an impact on general affordability, Tyndall said.

He said people should pay attention to policies seeking to build more housing.

"If there's not the political pressure to get housing built, it probably won't get built," he said. "I think that attention to the processes that we [need] to get housing built are very important if people are concerned about affordability or affordability for their children. Going forward, we really need to build more housing and we have some tools to do that, if people are willing to stay engaged and make sure these projects and programs are implemented."

 that includes reports, an inventory of subsidized housing projects, and market data for neighborhoods across the Islands.

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<title>UHERO: Housing in Hawai‘i is still expensive</title>

The third edition of its annual Hawai‘i Housing Factbook finds that homeownership remains out of reach for many, with less than 25% of households earning enough to afford a mortgage on a median-priced single-family home. But there are also signs of moderate improvements.

UHERO: Housing in Hawai‘i is still expensive

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Keliʻi Akina, Ph.D.

Government & Politics

Viewpoints

With the 2025 legislative session officially in the books, it’s time to assess the results.

I’ll talk about the broader picture in the near future. Today, I just want to affirm that when it comes to housing reform, state lawmakers mostly earned our praise. Bills they passed that will help mitigate Hawaii’s housing crisis include:

, which, if signed by the governor, will eliminate school impact fees for home projects under 100 units and substantially reduce them for other housing projects.

, which establishes a 60-day deadline for agencies to act on a permit application, and allows a licensed architect or engineer to sign off on the building plans if that permit has not been approved or denied within that timeframe.

The Legislature also approved two bills that will streamline the state’s historic preservation review process, which for years has delayed construction and added to the cost of housing — and was poised to get worse as more and more aging properties fall into the current “historic” definition.

 redefines what is considered a “historic” property, and 

 will allow a private contractor to help if the State Historic Preservation Division cannot complete a review within 60 days.

, which will codify the governor’s emergency exemption from Special Management Area regulations for more than 600 coastal structures in Lahaina that were destroyed by the August 2023 wildfires.

I was glad to see this bill pass, but unfortunately, the governor’s SMA waiver doesn’t provide SMA relief for about a hundred property owners who are also in what is called the Shoreline Setback area, and neither will SB1296. My colleagues and I at the Grassroot Institute of Hawai‘i had urged legislators to include those properties in the bill, but it was not to be.

I sincerely hope this shoreline omission can be addressed through another mechanism, as it seems a shame to make these folks suffer indefinitely through no fault of their own.

All things considered though, this is the second year in a row that the Legislature has taken bold action to speed up permitting, cut construction costs and generally encourage more homebuilding.

As for other results of the 2025 legislative session, both good and bad, I’ll have more to say about those soon. And in that regard, please consider attending one of Grassroot’s upcoming “

” events that for the first time will take place in all four of Hawai‘i’s counties.

I will be moderating the luncheons in Kahului, Honolulu and Līhu‘e — on May 13, 14 and 16, respectively — and my colleague Sean Mitsui will do the honors in Hilo on May 15.

Come find out what Grassroot did during the session to help lower our cost of living, encourage more housing, improve healthcare access, increase economic opportunities, promote government accountability and generally make Hawai‘i a place where we all can thrive and prosper.

To be sure, we collaborated with many others both within and outside the Legislature. And my thanks go out to all who helped make that happen.

Reprinted from the May 3, 2025 newsletter of 

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Daily Features

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: TACOMA FIGHT!

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Classic interrogation technique

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Surfer gets dropped

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: A comedy crime saga in two parts

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: "A good day in Hawai‘i"

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social: Check out this kāne's chore-ography

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Introducing the "loose" shaka

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Curses, foiled again!

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Comedian's response to Facebook group posts