THM Partners Breaks Ground on Affordable Housing

By Liviu Oltean, Associate Editor

THM Partners and the state have begun a collaboration meant to increase affordable residences in Hawaii, KITV reports.

Kalakaua Avenue will be home to a 23-story affordable residential building. Of the 176 units, 90 will be affordable, ranging from $239,000 to $393,000. Serge Krivatsy, founding member and Principal of THM Partners, commented that in spite of the higher profit margin for luxury residences, choosing to develop affordable residences is a wiser decision since there is a great demand for them.

According to data provided by the National Association of Realtors, at the beginning of the current year, the housing market in Honolulu was the most expensive in the nation. Last year, the median price of a single-family unit decreased 13 percent, to about $557,500, but officials declared that the amount is still not affordable.

With the cooperation of state officials, developers are emphasizing the difference between affordable housing and housing affordability. Kalakaua Avenue’s developer, Peter Savio, said that during their pre-sale purchase in August, more than 4,000 prospective buyers showed interest in the project, and all the units were sold during one weekend.

In related news, the recovery of the housing market in Oahu has remained arduous, the Pacific Business News reports. While sales have increased, median prices for residential units have decreased. There has been a 4 percent increase in sales of single-family homes last month: there were 284 sales compared to 273 residences sold in the same period last year. In comparison, condominium sales have increased by 19 percent–from 306 units to 364. The increase in sales is not necessarily indicative of market health, however, as the median price of a single-family unit fell by 8 percent, and the median price of condominiums dropped by 4 percent.