The new year will see many changes in Hawaii business that are impossible to predict, but there are some events and trends that don’t require a crystal ball to identify. They include rising home prices, increasing Chinese tourism and the return of a key health center in West Oahu.

Queen’s West

More than two years after the closure of West Oahu’s only acute-care hospital and emergency room, Queen’s Medical Center is reopening the facilities this spring in the growing Ewa community.

Queen’s acquired the defunct Hawaii Medical Center-West from St. Francis Healthcare System a year ago, following the hospital’s bankruptcy and abrupt closure in December 2011.

Recently Queen’s reopened part of the medical center — a Queen’s Imaging Physician’s Office Building-West Oahu and the center’s X-ray and ultrasound services.

Queen’s is spending more than $70 million on renovations, new equipment and the acquisition — the largest in recent history.

Queen’s Medical Center-West Oahu will reopen with 80 beds, though it is licensed for about 130.

Emergency rooms will increase to 23 from 10, while operating rooms will expand to four from two. The hospital will have an intensive care unit as well as diagnostic imaging and gynecology services, but no obstetrics.

The closure of HMC-West two years ago left residents of West Oahu with Pali Momi Medical Center in Aiea as the closest acute-care hospital. Without HMC-West, ambulances were diverted and forced to drive farther, and the island’s remaining emergency rooms were overloaded with patients.

Queen’s is hiring approximately 400 employees to resume emergency room and hospital operations.

In a regulatory filing with the state, Queen’s projected inpatient admissions to reach 3,300 and emergency and outpatient visits to total 27,100 in its first year, and also estimated net revenue of $65.8 million and expenses of $74.9 million, resulting in a net loss of $9.1 million. It also projects the Ewa campus will provide more than $50 million annually in charity or uncompensated care.

Home prices

Oahu’s housing market is expected to set a record in 2013 with the median price for single-family house sales. But the projected gain is a small one — about 3 percent — topping the old record of $643,500 by just a couple thousand dollars or so based on sales data through November.

This year, 2014, will be the year housing prices really take off, according to projections from local economists.

The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization expects an almost 11 percent jump in the median single-family house sale price to about $717,000. If accurate, it would be the first double-digit gain since 2005.

Of course, several factors will influence whether such a rise occurs. If interest rates rise more than anticipated, that could hold price appreciation back. The same could happen if growth in Hawaii’s economy is disrupted.

The 3 percent gain in 2013 was produced largely due to near record-low interest rates, a relatively sparse supply of homes on the market. and job growth fueled by record tourism and other growing sectors of Hawaii’s economy.

Developers aren’t expected to build a ton of new single-family homes in 2014 on Oahu. However, condominium developers are busy with several high-rise projects in Kakaako that could draw off some demand in the single-family house market.

Partly because of that, UHERO’s projection for Oahu’s condo market in 2014 is for a more modest 7 percent gain that would push the median sale price to $357,000 from about $330,000 in 2013, which represented a 5 percent gain over the year before.

Chinese visitors

Three carriers this year will offer nonstop service to Hawaii from China, making it one of the state’s most promising emergent markets.

China Eastern, which flies three times a week between Honolulu and Shanghai, increased its frequency to five times a week last month. Air China will begin three-days-a-week service between Beijing and Honolulu on Jan. 21. Hawaiian Airlines also plans to begin three-days-a-week service between Beijing and Honolulu on April 16.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority hoped to increase Chinese arrivals in 2013 to 149,914 or 28.3 percent more than in 2012. Likewise, HTA’s spending goal for China was $358 million, which equates to 39.2 percent more than in 2012.

Through October 2013, Chinese arrivals actually numbered 115,823, which was 7.1 percent below the 10-month target of 124,634. Likewise, visitor spending by China travelers during the first 10 months of the year grew to $280.2 million, which was 6.5 percent below the $299.6 million target set for that time period.

Tourism officials say that the new air travel should help Hawaii gain more traction in the coveted China market.

In 2014, air seats from China are expected to rise to 120,616, a 181 percent year-over-year increase from the 42,903 seats that were expected in 2013.