Justin Tyndall

Construction Defect Litigation, Housing Affordability, and Homeownership in Hawai‘i

Hawai‘i faces a severe housing shortage, driven by high costs and regulatory barriers that hinder new development. One emerging factor is the rise of construction liability litigation. While issues like land use constraints, infrastructure availability, and permitting delays have long been recognized as major challenges to housing affordability, litigation is becoming an increasingly significant source […]

New Study on Transfer of Development Rights and Sea Level Rise

The City and County of Honolulu Resilience Office recently featured a report coauthored by UH ISR’s Alice McLean and UHERO’s Kimberly Burnett, Makena Coffman, Justin Tyndall, Kaila Ronquilio, and Christopher Wada. The study assessed the potential of using Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for sea level rise adaptation on O‘ahu. Results from the analysis suggest that TDR alone is […]

A Honolulu Empty Homes Tax: Impacts on Housing Supply and County Revenue

By Justin Tyndall Honolulu faces an acute housing shortage, yet tens of thousands of homes sit empty. Bill 46 would create a new property tax that applies to empty homes. The policy aims to achieve two key objectives: (1) expand the supply of housing for local residents, and (2) generate revenue for the county. Using […]

Maui Short-Term Rentals, the Minatoya List, and Housing Supply

By Justin Tyndall and Emi Kim Recent state legislation has given counties new powers to regulate Transient Vacation Rental (TVR) properties. A proposal on Maui would significantly reduce the number of TVRs by withdrawing permission to operate for over 7,000 properties. Below, we briefly summarize the policy proposal and discuss the characteristics of the units […]

The Hawaii Housing Factbook 2024

The past year has brought significant shocks to the housing market in Hawai‘i. In 2023, only one in five local households could afford a mortgage on the median-priced single-family home in the state. High interest rates make it difficult to finance a home purchase, difficult for developers to finance new construction, and disrupts the filtering […]

UHERO’s Justin Tyndall cited in the 2024 Economic Report of the President

Congratulations to UHERO’s Justin Tyndall whose recent article (co-authored with Limin Fang and Nathan Stewart)” Homeowner Politics and Housing Supply” was cited in the 2024 Economic Report of the President. 

Why are Condominiums so Expensive in Hawai‘i?

The median sale price of a new two-bedroom condominium in Hawai‘i is about $670,000, more than double the price in the average state. In this report, we try to determine why new condominiums are so expensive in Hawai‘i. We break down the costs involved in producing condominiums to better understand the causes of high prices.

UHERO’s Justin Tyndall explains how short term vacation rentals impact Hawaii’s housing market

Publication: The effect of front-end vehicle height on pedestrian death risk

Abstract: Pedestrian deaths in the US have risen in recent years. Concurrently, US vehicles have increased in size, which may pose a safety risk for pedestrians. In particular, the increased height of vehicle front-ends may present a danger for pedestrians in a crash, as the point of vehicle contact is more likely to occur at […]