Hawaii’s commercial real estate market achieved a major rebound last year, with sales of shopping centers, hotels, office buildings and other assets topping $2 billion for the first time in five years.

A report by Colliers International released this week tallied statewide commercial property sales of at least $1 million and said transactions last year surged to finally top pre-recession levels.

"Since the depth of the recession in 2009, Hawaii commercial real estate sales volume has more than tripled, marking a return to levels seen prior to the Great Recession," the firm said in the report.

There were 182 sales for a total value of $2.21 billion. The value was up 81 percent from $1.22 billion the year before. The number of transactions was up 34 percent from 136 in the same period.

Last year’s sales volume represented a surge after a modest decline in 2011. A decade low was $627 million in 2009 that followed four years of declines from an all-time peak of $4.28 billion in 2005.

Colliers said demand last year was fueled by low interest rates and flight from other investments yielding low financial returns.

"With the current low interest-rate environment and volatile stock market conditions, many investors sought out real estate as a source to diversify and strengthen their investment portfolios," the report said.

Colliers also said the expected changes in federal tax law pertaining to capital gains on real estate led more property owners to sell assets and pay lower capital gains.

The fear of higher capital gains taxes, according to Colliers, helped produced a rush of deals in the last three months of 2012. Nearly half of the total dollar volume of sales last year, or $1.15 billion, was from sales in the fourth quarter, the report said.

Another driver of demand is Hawaii’s recovering economy, which included job growth and record tourist arrivals last year. A growing economy helps improve operations of commercial property such as tenant rental rates.

Colliers noted that the improving economy also influenced the volume of distressed property sales. Last year, there were just $100 million in distressed sales such as foreclosure sales, or 5 percent of the market. In 2011, distressed sales volume was $551 million representing 45 percent of the market.

Offshore buyers made the biggest purchases last year, accounting for $1.37 billion, or just more than half the total sales volume, at an average price of $43 million. But local buyers bought more properties — 149 of 182 — at lower prices that averaged $5.6 million.

The single biggest sale was $311 million for the former Navy housing subdivision Iroquois Pointe, now known as The Waterfront at Puuloa, bought by a partnership led by San Francisco-based Carmel Partners.

Multifamily apartment complexes represented the second-biggest segment of sales last year, accounting for $570 million in transactions such as the Carmel deal. Another big deal in this sector was the city’s affordable-housing portfolio that sold for $142 million.

The biggest sector of sales was retail centers, accounting for $895 million in transactions. Major sales in this category included the Sears store lease at Ala Moana Center for $250 million, Pearlridge Center for $289 million and the Safeway-anchored center in Kapahulu for $72 million.

The Seaside Hotel Waikiki, Days Inn Maui Oceanfront and a portfolio of Shell Vacation Club time-share properties helped produce $240 million in hotel sales including golf courses. Colliers said this category was light compared with the prior year when sales totaled $453 million, in part because fewer hotel owners were forced to sell due to financial difficulties.

Office properties accounted for $243 million in sales. Industrial property totaled $171 million. The smallest category counted by Colliers was commercial land at $92 million.

Colliers expects the market for commercial property will expand a little more this year to a projected $2.4 billion spread over roughly 200 transactions.

"Investment interest should continue to remain strong for the near term as offshore institutional investors continue to covet prime Hawaii properties," the report said.