Background
With 22 landowners owning 72.5% of the fee simple titles in the state, the Hawaii Legislature concluded that the oligopoly in land ownership was “skewing the State's residential fee simple market, inflating land prices, and injuring the public tranquility and welfare,” and therefore enacted a condemnation scheme for title. Unfortunately, the shortage of buildable land on Oahu was in large measure caused by the fact that the government owned about one-half of the island's surface, which is what limited availability of land for construction of housing. Moreover, there was no basis for supposing that the cost of land sold in fee simple (as freehold titles) would be less rather than more expensive -- leaseholds, being temporary, fetch lower prices than fee simple titles which convey the right of ownership in perpetuity.
Read more about this topic: Hawaii Housing Authority V. Midkiff
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