TAMUNING, Guam – Jacqueline Guzman has lived with her husband in a small apartment in Maite Village for 18 years, but now finds herself having to adapt her lifestyle to be able to pay her rent.
“Our rent has increased by $300, from $850 to $1,150. The increase has only happened in the last four years,” she told Radio Free Asia. “Housing is definitely challenging because it’s hard to find affordable housing that provides safe and attractive spaces. »
Guzman tried three times to buy property, but was “scared off by mortgage prices and length of debt.”
The couple is not alone. Housing costs are skyrocketing in Guam due to military buildup and increased military personnel on the U.S. homeland. According to the U.S. Navy, the active duty population is expected to increase from 17,000 in 2024 to 24,000 in 2033, due to the relocation of maritime units from Okinawa, Japan.
Additionally, contractors working on military improvements, or even housing construction, need housing. The increase in demand and the decrease in supply thus push prices higher and higher.
The Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority said Guam faces a demand for 9,908 additional housing units in 2025.
Last year, the governor’s office estimated that the Department of Defense planned to invest $8 billion, or $3 billion more than Guam’s entire gross domestic product, over the next five years in a military expansion driven by the region’s escalating geopolitical situation.
Military upgrades
Earlier this month, the US Missile Defense Agency awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a new $407 million contract to expand Guam’s missile defense program, bringing the project value from $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion.
This new contract is part of the existing Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Weapon Systems contract for Project Guam, designed to provide 360-degree protection against a potential threat from China’s ballistic and hypersonic strikes.
In September last year, Beijing unveiled its DF-26D missile, an upgraded variant of the missile nicknamed the “Guam Killer”, during a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II.
While the Department of Defense’s increased investment has been hailed as an economic boon for Guam, the growing presence of military personnel on the island and the U.S. territory’s role in the Indo-Pacific strategy are taking a toll on the civilian community.
“Housing is a very big problem. We’re short of housing,” Sen. Jesse Lujan of the Guam Legislature told RFA. “Similarly, we have a lot of people leaving Guam and looking for, of course, greener pastures. And those homes and those apartments or condos that are being vacated are being occupied, of course, by the military and federal contractors.”
Big military dollars
Real estate developers and landlords target military renters, setting prices based on the Department of Defense’s Overseas Housing Allowance for Guam, which averages $2,205 per month for single military members, making rents unaffordable for most residents.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, Guamanians earn on average less than $3,000 per month. This means that if rent is set at military rates, then a Guamanian earning the average wage would have to pay more than three-quarters of that in rent.
Although these high costs pose a headache for Guamanian renters, landlords like Tes Schwab, who owns a rental unit in Agana Heights near a major U.S. Navy hospital, are more than willing to rent to military personnel.
“We appreciate military tenants,” she said. “I’ve only had two so far, and they’ve both been reliable payers.”
According to a May 2025 report from the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, Guam’s military population is expected to double in 10 years, from 10,000 in 2024 to 20,000 in 2033.
The report notes that the Department of Defense has not yet determined the infrastructure capacity it needs to accommodate the population increase.
“DOD has identified that these installations are already facing capacity challenges,” the report said. “As such, the Department of Defense will not know the extent to which the addition of Guam Defense System personnel will exacerbate existing challenges related to supporting infrastructure.”
The GAO acknowledged that Guam already faces a housing shortage for military personnel.
While the Department of Defense builds housing for military personnel, the growing population outpaces construction, requiring reliance on civilian infrastructure.
Renovation rather than construction
Meanwhile, much of the funding for adequate military housing goes not to building new units but rather to replacing or upgrading existing housing, Robert Underwood, president of the Pacific Center for Island Security, a Guam-based think tank, told RFA.
“Despite previous commitments that they would seek new on-base housing to ease the burden on the civilian community, they are only refurbishing the existing inventory,” said Underwood, a former Guam delegate to the U.S. Congress. “The disconnect between the activities they pursue and the consequences of those same activities is staggering. »
Siska Hutapea, president of real estate company Cornerstone Valuation, told RFA Guam that the real estate market is already being boosted by the significant increase in construction costs.
“Intensive military construction activities in such a short period of time and in a relatively small market have absorbed all the capacities of construction companies, causing a substantial increase in prices,” Hutapea said. “This puts significant pressure on residents because it limits new supply. »
She said median prices have essentially doubled since the modern military buildup began in 2012. At the time, the median home price was $210,000. In 2025, it was $400,000.
“Improving infrastructure would certainly help to relieve pressure and help residents build more housing,” she added.
In addition to prohibitive construction costs, Lujan said Guam’s labor shortage is exacerbating the housing situation.
Foreign workers hired for projects in Guam under the federal government’s H2-B visa program work on defense projects, limiting the ability of civilian contractors to complete their housing projects.
“We can’t build houses fast enough because of the cost and lack of labor,” Lujan said. “So we have a double whammy here.”
The inability to build new homes quickly enough is leading the U.S. Navy to seek to purchase existing homes and land suitable for construction, according to a press release detailing a housing initiative announced last September.
To that end, the Navy is seeking a total of 2,400 housing units, including 1,600 units for families, some ready for occupancy in 2028 and the remainder by 2032.
“This effort is not just about hitting housing numbers,” Rear Admiral Brett Mietus said in the release. “It’s about ensuring our service members have the quality of life they deserve. We must explore every avenue, from innovative partnerships and efficient construction to maximizing existing resources.”
Edited by Eugene Whong.