How Much to Rent on Maui?

Maui's High Rental Market

Finding an affordable rental on Maui can be a huge challenge. This is due in part to the lack of available rentals as well as the affordability of the rentals that are available. Prices have increased dramatically in the past few years, a modest 2 bed, 800 sq. ft. rental in a rural area used to be around $1200/ month and is now up to around $1800/month.

Suggested rental equations state that your rent should be 30% of your monthly income. Which would mean you would need to make $6000/ month to "afford" a $1800/ month rental.

Inflation has attributed to the dramatic increases in recent years but another key factor has been onlive vacation rental websites such as AirBnb, VRBO and HomeAway. Landlords had gotten used to vacation renting their properties and earing $100/night or more ($3000/month). Once the country began enforcing stricter policies on operating vacation rentals landlords started putting their units back on the long term rental market, however they were now used to receiving these high monthly incomes from their properties.

Finding rentals that allow kids and pets can also be a challenge. Of course it is illegal to discriminate against potential renters because they have children but landlords can afford to be picky and choose whomever they want to rent to. Some buildings and landlords have discriminatory policies against certain dog breeds, such as Pitbulls and German Shepards.

As a landlord you can help this issue by being fair and non-discriminatory. If you need more assurance ask potential renters for past references, insurance and/or pert deposits.

As a tenant one of the best things you can do for yourself is to start saving so that you can soon buy. Be a responsible tenant by taking care of the property and paying your rent on time.

Maui Now shows a brief overview of the current average, median and high prices for Maui rentals.

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