Major resort deals kept 2016 sales over $4 billion

Commercial real estate sales in Hawaii dipped for a second straight year in 2016 but stayed above $4 billion thanks to the sale of roughly 2,500 hotel rooms by the largest local hotel company.

Sales of resort, retail, office and other commercial property statewide totaled $4.1 billion last year, down 8 percent from $4.5 billion the year before, according to a report from commercial real estate brokerage firm Colliers International released for publication today.

It was the third consecutive year that sales totaled more than $4 billion since a record was set in 2014 at $4.6 billion.

Commercial properties represent a major piece of Hawaii’s broader real estate market. By comparison, all sales of previously owned homes on Oahu last year, about 9,100 transactions, totaled $5.7 billion.

The report showed that major resort properties largely bought by mainland and international buyers dominated the market. A year earlier, retail property sales dominated.

There was $2.1 billion in resort property sales last year spread over 13 transactions, the biggest of which was a sale of the Hawaii holdings of Outrigger Hotels &Resorts to Denver-based KSL Capital Partners that Colliers estimated at $900 million. The next biggest sale was the leasehold interest in the Hyatt Regency Waikiki that sold for $780 million to New York-based Blackstone Group LP.

The next-biggest category of property sales last year was land, accounting for $721 million among 64 transactions. This category included 26 acres of vacant beachfront land at Ko Olina Resort &Marina zoned for hotel use and bought by a Chinese company for $280 million. The same company, China Oceanwide Holdings, also paid $98 million for 514 acres of vacant land in Kapolei planned for residential development.

Sales of retail real estate totaled $565 million last year among 61 transactions. The biggest transactions in this category were Maui Mall for $86 million, Lahaina Cannery Mall for $65 million and the Hard Rock Cafe building in Waikiki for $60 million.

In 2015, retail property was the biggest category representing $2.9 billion in sales that included roughly 50 percent stakes in Oahu’s two biggest shopping centers, Ala Moana Center and Pearlridge Center, for nearly $2 billion combined.

Rounding out the categories last year were multifamily properties (typically rental apartment complexes) where there were 79 transactions for $300 million, industrial real estate that represented 46 sales for $236 million and office property sales where 37 transactions totaled $143 million.

The Colliers report counts transactions of at least $1 million.

This year Colliers expects a 20 percent decline in commercial real estate sales by dollar volume, in part because of fewer big properties available for sale.

Colliers also said inflation and interest rate increases could diminish demand for real estate, while trade policies under President Donald Trump might inhibit purchases from foreign buyers.

Last year, Colliers said, foreign buyers accounted for $1.4 billion in Hawaii commercial property sales, compared with mainland buyers who spent $1.9 billion and Hawaii buyers who spent $791 million.

Most of the purchases last year were by Hawaii buyers, who bought 210 properties. Mainland and international buyers bought 90 properties. There were 300 property sales total last year, up from 254 in the prior year.