Isle homes
a bit more affordable,
survey says

But Honolulu is still among
the most expensive markets,
the Leventhal study shows

By Rick Daysog
Star-Bulletin

A middle-class isle family spends nearly a third of their salary on housing, making Honolulu the fourth costliest housing market in the nation, according to a new study.

But Honolulu's rank is an improvement from 1996, when Honolulu was rated the third least affordable market.

E&Y Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group today said that a typical local family pays 33.1 percent of their income to cover mortgage costs or apartment rents.

Only San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles were less affordable. San Francisco residents paid 39.7 percent of their salaries for housing costs while New Yorkers paid 38.3 percent. Los Angeles residents paid 36.8 percent of their income on housing.

Oklahoma City, where residents spend 16 percent of their income on housing, was the most affordable town in Leventhal's 75-city survey. It was followed by Tulsa at 17.1 percent and Richmond, Va. at 18.3 percent.

Mike Sklarz, director of research at Prudential Locations Inc., said that Hawaii housing prices in general have become more affordable over the past few years.

Resale prices have come down and the supply of newly developed homes has increased signficantly of the past few years, he said.

"There's a lot of product at attractive prices," Sklarz said.

The report compared the cost of owning a four-bedroom home and 1,200-square-foot apartment, with the median family income. The survey used a median family income of $57,900 for Honolulu.

Leventhal, a unit of Ernst & Young LLP, noted that housing markets in the west tend to lead the nation. The ten least affordable cities included Oakland, which was seventh, and San Jose, which was tenth.

Cities in the Texas-Missouri corridor -- Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Kansas City and Houston -- were among the most affordable, with four of the five least costliest cities.