Hawaii is most expensive state for home buyers
HONOLULU — A real estate company says the average four-bedroom, two-bathroom home is more expensive in Hawaii than any other state in the nation.
Coldwell Banker said Wednesday says the average listing for a house that size is more than $742,000 in Hawaii. That’s well above Massachusetts, which ranked second with an average listing price just over $489,000.
The company’s U.S. Home Listing Report analyzes the average listing price of four-bedroom, two-bathroom properties on coldwellbanker.com between January 2012 and June 2012.
Nebraska has the cheapest listings at about $145,000. Iowa and Georgia are the second and third most affordable states to buy a home.
Los Altos, Calif. in Silicon Valley has the priciest listings of any community in the nation, with an average of $1.7 million.
Catholic Diocese to buy UH land
HONOLULU — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu is buying land from the University of Hawaii for an anticipated $32 million.
KITV-TV says university regents approved the sale Wednesday.
The 39 acres are part of the university’s West Oahu campus. The diocese wants the land to build a parish and a high school given the tremendous growth it sees in West Oahu, where it says four of the six parishes in Leeward Oahu are over-capacity.
The sale could be finalized by the second quarter of 2013.
UH researcher zeroes in on tsunamis
HONOLULU — A University of Hawaii researcher is focusing his attention on tsunamis.
Michael Foster is an assistant researcher at the UH Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, and is doing groundbreaking research on the measurement of tsunami waves in the open ocean.
According to KITV-TV, Foster believes the deployment of advanced GPS devices on board cargo ships could provide more accurate tsunami data in the aftermath of powerful earthquakes.
Foster’s research comes at a time when the Obama administration is considering a $1 million funding cut to the tsunami warning system, which relies on 39 deep-ocean buoys to transmit data on seismic events throughout the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Sen. Akaka drops gavel on final committee hearing
WASHINGTON — The goodbyes are beginning for Sen. Daniel Akaka (uh-KAH’-kuh), who will retire when the lame-duck session ends after 36 years in the U.S. Senate.
Akaka was the first Native Hawaiian in the Senate and the first Native person to chair the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. He has held 43 hearings over two years as chairman, with his last one on Thursday.
Fellow senators lauded the Hawaii Democrat for his work for Indian Country. The hearing focused on preserving Native cultures and identities.
Akaka grew emotional before dropping the gavel for the last time. Rather than goodbye, he said: “It is with much aloha that I say to you now, ‘A hui hou (ah hoo-EE’ HOH’-oo),’ see you again.” Aloha is a Hawaiian greeting that also means love and care.
UH approves land sale to church
HONOLULU — The University of Hawaii is approving the $32 million sale of West Oahu land to the Catholic Church.
The church plans to build a church and a private school on the land next to the new UH-West Oahu campus.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports the Board of Regents approved the sale on Wednesday.
The church would pay $12 million for the land. It’s agreed to spend up to $20 million to build roads, sewers, electricity and other infrastructure to the site.
Money from the sale would pay for some of UH-West Oahu campus start-up and operating costs.
The sale still has to be finalized and there is no construction schedule yet. The church must also get a permit from the city before it can build.
