Honolulu office market on upswing
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Sharp contradiction predicted for U.S. real estate market
Advertiser Staff
Despite a nationwide slowdown, the Honolulu office market is improving after several weak years during the past decade.
Vacancies at the end of June were about 12 percent, down from about 13 percent at the end of last year.
Joe Haas, a senior vice president at commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Hawaii Inc., said empty space should shrink to around 11.5 percent by the end of the year.
"The market's getting tight," he said. "Most of the markets on the Mainland are in a different place than we are in Honolulu. We are in the upward phase. There is no new construction and vacancies are decreasing."
In Hawai'i's retail sector, statewide vacancy was a relatively low 6.2 percent at the end of March, according to a CB Richard Ellis study.
Though most of the state's largest malls have reported year-over-year sales declines in recent months, several continue to report year-to-date sales growth.
Meanwhile, statewide residential real estate is maintaining its streak of increased sales. For the first seven months of the year, the value of single-family home and condo sales were $1.14 billion, up almost 7 percent from $1.07 billion during the same period last year.
