81
Hawaii’s economy may be slowly improving, but the retail industry appeared to have a rough third quarter in terms of how much store space statewide was leased or vacated.
MORE SPACE Retail real estate vacancy increased in Hawaii in the third quarter from the previous three months:
|
The vacancy rate for retail real estate increased more during the three months ended in September than in any of the previous 11 quarters, according to a survey of Hawaii shopping centers.
The survey by commercial real estate brokerage firm CB Richard Ellis said the vacancy rate rose by 1 percentage point to 5.2 percent from 4.2 percent at the end of the second quarter.
The gain was twice as high as any previous quarter-to-quarter rise since at least the fourth quarter of 2007 when the national recession began, according to CB Richard Ellis data.
A 1 percentage point gain represents 138,466 square feet — nearly the size of a Costco store — of vacant space coming on the market, as retailers vacated more store space than they filled.
Overall, the statewide 5.2 percent vacancy rate equates to 731,758 square feet of empty space out of 14 million square feet of leasable retail space in Hawaii, CB Richard Ellis said.
Since the end of 2007, Hawaii’s retail vacancy rate began creeping up from a little over 2 percent, reaching 3 percent in mid-2009 and getting close to 4 percent in the first quarter of this year before the recent surge.
Most of the vacancies in the third quarter occurred on Oahu, which accounted for 56,411 square feet in additional empty space. However, Oahu’s rate remained relatively low at 3 percent.
Maui retail vacancies rose by 53,088 square feet to 7.7 percent. On Hawaii island, empty space grew by 28,967 square feet to put the rate at 12.4 percent. Kauai’s rate was unchanged at 11.1 percent.
CB Richard Ellis said lease rates quoted by landlords have been close to flat for the last 18 months, and probably will remain so for several more quarters. In the third quarter, the average net rent landlords sought was $3.45 per square foot.
The report is based on a survey of 75 retail properties, including neighborhood, resort and regional shopping centers.
