TAMUNING, Guam – Jacqueline Guzman has been dwelling along with her husband in a small condo within the village of Maite for 18 years, however now finds herself having to regulate her way of life to afford her hire.
“Our hire went up by US$300, from $850 to $1,150. The rise was solely within the final 4 years,” she informed Radio Free Asia. “Housing is certainly troublesome as a result of inexpensive housing is troublesome to search out for secure and engaging areas.”
Guzman tried thrice to buy property however was “scared away by the mortgage costs and size of the debt.”
The couple is just not alone. Housing prices are skyrocketing in Guam resulting from army buildup and a surge in army personnel within the U.S. territory. Based on the U.S. Navy, the energetic responsibility inhabitants is predicted to surge from 17,000 in 2024 to 24,000 in 2033, because of the relocation of marine models from Okinawa, Japan.
Moreover, contractors engaged on army upgrades, and even housing development, require housing. The rise in demand and the dwindling provide are thus pushing costs greater and better.
The Guam Housing and City Renewal Authority has reported that Guam confronted a requirement for 9,908 further housing models in 2025.
Final yr, the workplace of the governor estimated that the Division of Protection plans to take a position $8 billion—$3 billion better than Guam’s whole gross home product—over the following 5 years amid a army growth pushed by the escalating geopolitical scenario within the area.
Army upgrades
Earlier this month, the U.S. Missile Protection Company awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a brand new $407 million contract to increase the Guam missile protection program, elevating the venture’s worth from $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion.
The brand new award is a part of the present Aegis Ballistic Missile Protection Weapon Techniques contract for the Guam venture, designed to offer 360-degree safety in opposition to a possible menace from China’s ballistic and hypersonic strikes.
In September final yr, Beijing unveiled its DF-26D missile, an upgraded variant of the missile nicknamed the “Guam Killer,” throughout a army parade marking the eightieth anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World Battle II.
Whereas the Division of Protection’s surging funding has been praised as an financial boon for Guam, the growing presence of army personnel on the island and the U.S. territory’s function in Indo-Pacific technique are taking their toll on the civilian group.
“Housing is a really huge problem. Now we have a scarcity of housing,” Sen. Jesse Lujan of the Guam legislature informed RFA.“By the identical token, we now have fairly lots of people who’re leaving Guam and in search of, after all, greener pastures. And people properties and people flats or condos which might be being vacated are being occupied, after all, by the army and federal contractors.”
Large army bucks
Housing builders and property house owners are focusing on army renters, setting costs primarily based on the Division of Protection’s abroad housing allowance for Guam, which averages $2,205 per thirty days for single service members, making rents unaffordable for many residents.
Based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Guamanians on common earn lower than $3,000 per thirty days. Because of this if hire is ready in line with army charges, then a Guamanian incomes the typical wage would wish to pay greater than three-fourths of it in hire.
Whereas these excessive prices current a conundrum for Guamanian renters, landlords like Tes Schwab, who owns a rental unit in Agana Heights close to a big U.S. Navy hospital, are greater than keen to lease to army personnel.
“We recognize army tenants,” she stated. “I’ve solely had two thus far, they usually have each been dependable payers.”
Based on a Might 2025 report by the Authorities Accountability Workplace, or GAO, the army inhabitants in Guam is projected to double in 10 years—from 10,000 in 2024 to twenty,000 in 2033.
The report famous that the Division of Protection has but to find out the infrastructure capability it must help the inhabitants surge.
“DOD has recognized that these amenities are already going through capability points,” the report stated. “As such, DOD is not going to understand how a lot the addition of Guam Protection System personnel will exacerbate present challenges with the help infrastructure.”
The GAO acknowledged that Guam is already going through a housing scarcity for army personnel.
Whereas the Division of Protection is constructing housing quarters for army personnel, the rising inhabitants is outpacing development, necessitating reliance on civilian infrastructure.
Renovation over development
In the meantime, a lot of the funding for sufficient army housing is just not going towards establishing new models, however reasonably to exchange or replace present housing, Robert Underwood, president of the Pacific Heart for Island Safety, a Guam-based suppose tank, informed RFA.
“Regardless of the commitments made earlier that they’d search new housing on base to alleviate the burden on the civilian group, they’re solely refurbishing the present stock,” stated Underwood, a former Guam delegate to the U.S. Congress. “The disconnect between the actions they pursue and the results of these very actions is mindboggling.”
Siska Hutapea, president of the actual property firm Cornerstone Valuation, informed RFA Guam’s housing market is already pushed by the numerous enhance in development prices.
“The intensive army development actions in such a short while body in a reasonably small market absorbed the entire development corporations’ capabilities, inflicting a considerable enhance in costs,” Hutapea stated. “This places important strain on locals because it limits new provide.”
She stated that median costs have basically doubled for the reason that begin of the trendy army buildup in 2012. Again then the median house worth was $210,000. In 2025 it was $400,000.
“Infrastructure upgrades would undoubtedly be useful to launch the strain and help the locals construct extra housing models,” she added.
Moreover the prohibitive development prices, Lujan stated Guam’s labor scarcity exacerbates the housing scenario.
Overseas employees employed for Guam initiatives beneath the federal authorities’s H2-B visa program are engaged on protection initiatives, limiting the civilian contractors’ potential to finish their housing initiatives.
“We will’t construct properties quick sufficient due to price and due to labor scarcity,” Lujan stated. “So we now have a double whammy right here.”
The shortcoming to assemble new properties quick sufficient has the U.S. Navy seeking to purchase present properties and land appropriate for development, in line with a press launch detailing a housing initiative introduced final September.
To that finish the navy is searching for a complete of two,400 housing models, together with 1,600 models for households, with some prepared for occupancy in 2028, and the remainder by 2032.
“This effort is not only about assembly housing numbers,” Rear Adm. Brett Mietus stated within the launch. “It’s about making certain our army members have the standard of life they deserve. We should discover each avenue from modern partnerships and environment friendly development to maximizing present sources.”
Edited by Eugene Whong.
