HONOLULU (KHON2) — Hawaii’s real estate is out of reach for many eager homeowners. Many people save for years only to afford a condo, apartment or one-bedroom studio in Hawaii.
A new study looked at the cost of building a home and ranked the best and worst states where it is more cost-effective to build rather than buy.
StorageCafe came out with their rankings on the best and worst states to build a home from scratch and Hawaii came out on top.
States where it’s potentially cheaper to build rather than buy:
- Hawaii
- California
- Colorado
- Utah
- Virginia
- Delaware
- Maryland
- Montana
- Florida
- Idaho
It’s no surprise Hawaii has one of the highest single-family home median listing prices of over one million dollars. According to their findings, building a home costs around $551,000.
Many lots for sale in Hawaii have enough square feet to build the home of your dreams without going over that million-dollar budget.
“The median house price in Hawaii is typically higher than most other states, making buying an existing home significantly more expensive than building a new one from the ground up,” said Nick Mueller the director of operations at HawaiianIslands.com. “Even so, constructing a residential property in Hawaii can still be costly compared to building on the mainland.”
He said despite building a new home in Hawaii being slightly cheaper than buying a home, it still comes at a high cost.
“The cost of building a new home in Hawaii can be substantial, with estimates ranging on average from $185 to over $400 per square foot,” said Mueller. “Typical costs for new construction on the mainland range between $80 to $160 per square foot before factoring in land fees or other related expenses.”
Their study found building in the Aloha State gives people the opportunity to enjoy more outdoor space. The average lot size for homebuilding is 0.62 acres in Hawaii which is almost twice as much as the national average.
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For more information or to read the study by StorageCafe, head to their website.
