Business property sales near record

Investors wanting to own commercial real estate in Hawaii bought a near-record amount of such property last year.

A report released for publication today said $4.5 billion worth of shopping centers, hotels, office buildings and other commercial property was purchased last year.

The volume was just shy of a $4.6 billion record reached in 2014, according to the report from commercial real estate brokerage firm Colliers International.

Among the biggest purchases in 254 transactions last year were roughly 50 percent stakes in Oahu’s two biggest shopping centers, Ala Moana Center and Pearlridge Center, two hotels for more than $100 million apiece, and many multifamily housing projects.

Commercial properties represent a major piece of Hawaii’s broader real estate market. By comparison, all the home sales on Oahu last year, about 8,500 transactions, totaled $5.1 billion.

Colliers said the strong demand was driven by investors fleeing unstable stock markets and weak prices for commodities such as oil, natural gas and metals.

“The elevated level of commercial real estate investment activity is partly due to the extreme volatility being experienced by alternate investment markets,” the report said. “Skittish investors faced with falling stock, bond and commodity prices, as well as increased international economic uncertainty, are aggressively seeking safe haven real estate investment opportunities.”

Colliers also noted that interest rates remain low, and said commercial real estate sales nationally rose for a sixth straight year in 2015.

Last year was only the third time that Hawaii commercial property purchases topped $4 billion since 2001, according to Colliers. In 2005, sales totaled $4.3 billion.

However, the company doesn’t expect that this year will reach the mark again, because of a depleted supply of available properties.

Colliers forecasts that there will be about $3.4 billion in Hawaii commercial property sales this year.

Last year, the biggest opportunity in the market was retail property. There were 60 such sales for a combined $2.9 billion.

Retail property transactions included General Growth Properties Inc. selling a 37.5 percent share in Ala Moana to Australian Super for $907 million and a 12.5 percent share to TIAA-CREF for $454 million in April.

Two other retail property sales were among the four biggest last year — a 49 percent stake in Pearlridge for $492 million and all of The Shops at Wailea for $342 million.

Other large sales included the Fairmont Orchid Hotel for $220 million, a 26-acre parcel at Ko Olina Resort &Marina for $192 million and the Maile Sky Court hotel for $103 million.

There were 17 sales of resort or golf properties for total of $695 million, which included a Japanese company selling Hawaii Kai Golf Course to the U.S. affiliate of a South Korean firm for $20.5 million.

Commercial land sales was the next biggest category, with 30 sales for $431 million. Industrial property sales totaled $176 million based on 47 transactions.

The biggest number of sales was for multifamily properties, typically rental apartment complexes, where 78 transactions amounted to $175 million. There were also 22 office properties sold for $141 million.

Buyers were mainly from outside Hawaii. Sales to offshore investors represented 86 percent of transaction dollar volume with a $41 million average purchase price. Local investors made more purchases, representing about 69 percent, or 175 of 254 deals, with a $3.4 million average price.