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Housing costs up 50% in Kihei

KAHULUI, Hawaii » One negative side effect of Maui County's robust economy is the continuing rise in the cost of housing, an economist said Friday.

Leroy Laney, an economics consultant for First Hawaiian Bank, said that during the last year, prices have risen 33 percent for single-family homes in Central Maui, 50 percent in Kihei and 18 percent in Kula and Napili.

"One byproduct of the rolling good times has been more debate about the costs of growth, notably skyrocketing housing prices that make it tough on people at all income levels," Laney told an audience gathered on Maui for the 30th Annual First Hawaiian Bank Economic Outlook Forum.

"One way to get relief from rising prices is to build more housing, but that brings more of the negative effects of growth," he added. "There is no magic or painless solution to this dilemma."