Hawaii commercial property sales soar to $5 billion

A $1.1 billion Maui hotel purchase helped set a record last year for Hawaii commercial real estate sales, which topped $5 billion, according to a tally released Friday.

The Hawaii office of commercial real estate brokerage firm Colliers International said investors spent $5.15 billion last year on commercial property, a 67 percent jump from $3.08 billion the year before.

Last year’s investment total surpassed a prior high of $4.57 billion in 2014, the report said.

Colliers said at the beginning of last year that it expected to see less spending on Hawaii commercial properties in 2018, partly over the notion that real estate values were topping out and a downturn might be near. The company predicted fewer “mega-deal” transactions would lead to a sales volume around $2.6 billion, which would have continued a decline into a fourth straight year.

However, a variety of factors helped make purchases of hotels, shopping centers, rental housing complexes and other commercial property more attractive. Factors cited by Colliers were stock market volatility, lower bond yields, a surge in consumer confidence and federal corporate income tax cuts.

Led by giant investment firms, the number of Hawaii mega-deals surged. Last year, there were 10 deals for over $100 million compared with just four the year before.

The biggest deal last year was the $1.1 billion purchase of the Grand Wailea hotel on Maui by New York-based investment firm Blackstone Group. The next biggest was a luxury apartment rental complex at Iroquois Point in West Oahu called Kapilina Beach Homes that was bought for $540 million by the Canada- based owner of Ala Moana Center, Brookfield Asset Management.

Notable sales last year included Princeville Resort for $225 million, the Kapolei Lofts apartment complex for $197 million, 41,000 acres of former Maui sugar plantation land for $262 million and the Waikiki retail complex King’s Village for $123 million.

Overall, there were 290 transactions last year, up from 284 the year before in the Colliers report that counts transactions over $1 million.

By property type, resort sales accounted for $2.4 billion and 17 transactions.

The next biggest category was apartment housing representing $935 million and 72 transactions.

Unimproved land represented $684 million and 49 transactions.

Investors spent $602 million on 52 retail property sales.

The category with the highest number of sales was industrial real estate where 73 deals were made for $332 million.

Office buildings generated $163 million in sales from 26 transactions.

Of the 290 deals, 219 were made by Hawaii buyers, 64 involved mainland buyers and seven were done by foreign buyers, the report said.

Colliers said commercial property purchases in the state this year could recede to near $4 billion if there is a U.S. and global economic slowdown. The firm also said continued stock and bond market volatility would help keep investors interested in real estate.

“Investors will scour our market for opportunities and those that adopt creative strategies can be successful in this increasingly challenging market environment,” the report said.