Hawaii Real Estate Blog

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - 9:32 AM HAST Thursday, June 7, 2007, by Howard Dicus

Hawaii's economy, which began to show some signs of cooling in 2006, has nevertheless made the top 10 in a new breakdown of state shares of U.S. gross domestic product.

The gross domestic product of Hawaii grew in 2006 at a rate of 4.3 percent, tied with Texas for 10th fastest growth rate and better than the growth rate in California or Nevada.

Hawaii's growth rate was 3.6 percent in 2003, 5.6 percent in 2004, 4.3 percent in 2005 (the government originally thought 5.3 percent but revised it lower) and 4.3 percent again in 2006.

By contrast, the growth rate accelerated in all three West Coast states and Arizona while slowing in Nevada.

Real GDP grew in all 50 states except Michigan, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday.

The fastest growth was in the West. In a year that saw national GDP grow 3.4 percent, 15 states grew at an annual rate of better than 4 percent:

• 1. Idaho: 7.4 percent.
• 2. Utah: 7.2 percent.
• 3. Arizona: 6.8 percent.
• 4. Oklahoma: 6.7 percent.
• 5. New Mexico: 6.2 percent.
• 6. Washington state: 5.6 percent.
• 7. Oregon: 5.0 percent.
• 8. Colorado: 4.9 percent.
• 9. Montana: 4.6 percent.
• 10. Hawaii and Texas: 4.3 percent.
• 12. California, Florida and North Carolina: 4.2 percent.
• 15. Nevada: 4.1 percent.

The government also parsed the data by population, yielding per capita growth rates for each state. By this measure, rankings changed a lot. Idaho, with the nation's fastest GDP growth rate, made the bottom 10 on per capita real GDP, while the top per capita states were Delaware and Connecticut, each of which had an overall economic growth rate below the national average. Hawaii ranked 16th, up from 17th the year before and 18th the year before that.

Reach Howard Dicus at hdicus@bizjournals.com

Ewa Beach shopping center moves forward

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - 11:45 AM HAST Thursday, June 7, 2007

Westwood Development Group, which bought the commercial site on Fort Weaver Road, plans to begin development immediately on Laulani Village, a 260,000-square-foot shopping center to be anchored by a 55,000-square-foot Safeway store.

CB Richard Ellis is handling the leasing for the center, which will have between 50 and 80 tenants when completed in spring 2009.

Westwood Development Group bought the Ewa Beach site from a joint venture of Bristol Group Inc. of San Francisco, a national real estate investment and development firm, and Hawaiian Asset Management and Investments Corp. -- also known as Hamico.

"Westwood Development Group has become a key player in Hawaii's shopping center scene with its acquisition of two major projects within a year," said Wendell F. Brooks III, who brokered the land purchase and will handle leasing for the center.

He said these acquisitions are in addition to projects on Kauai and the Big Island.

Michigan-based Westwood Development Group last year bought the Lanihau Shopping Center in Kailua-Kona from Alexander & Baldwin and is developing a second phase at the center. The developer is also a partner in Aina Lea, a $1 billion, 3,000-acre master-planned community in Waikoloa. A 25-acre shopping center is planned for the project.

The company is also developing a shopping center in Koloa on Kauai.

"This acquisition continues Westwood Development Group's strategy of building a high-quality portfolio throughout the islands," said Michael Bowen, chairman and CEO of Westwood Development Group. "Laulani Village fits perfectly into that strategy."

During May, sales of 357 single-family homes and 543 condominiums were reported through the Board's MLS, decreases of 4.5 percent for single-family homes and 10.2 percent for condominiums, compared to the same month last year. This brings total single-family home sales on Oahu to 1,564 for the first five months of 2007, a decrease of 5.2 percent over the same time period in 2006. Total condominium sales were 2,431, a 15.5 percent decrease from last year. The year-to-date median prices paid for Oahu properties in the first five months this year were $635,000 and $322,000, respectively, increases of 0.8 percent and 5.6 percent over the 2006 prices of $630,000 and $305,000. The total dollar sales volume generated in the housing market for the first five months of the year was $2.164 billion, a decrease of 5.6 percent, or $130 million, compared to the $2.294 billion produced one year ago.

There is a 2.7% decrease in Single Family Homes Median Sales Price from last year,
while a 6.2% increase in Condominium Median Sales Price in May 2007 compared to the same month last year.