Oahu retail properties show signs of cooling, report says
Oahu's retail real estate is red hot but shows signs of possible cooling, according to a new report by Colliers Monroe Friedlander Inc.
With rising home values creating wealth for residents, and real personal income rising amidst a robust job market, locals are in the mood to buy. And so are visitors, who purchased $2.9 billion in goods and services statewide in the first quarter of this year, a 6 percent increase over the same time last year, Colliers said today in its Retail Market Report covering the first six months of 2006.
This sort of activity has led retailers to vie for space, driving up rents. Average monthly asking retail net rents rose from $2.85 per square foot to $2.91 over the past six months. And the situation looks worse for tenants who pay additional fees for utilities, taxes and maintenance of common spaces in shopping centers. In the second quarter of 2006, average net asking rents plus common area maintenance fees were $3.72 per square foot.
The report asks, "Is the retail market peaking?"
The answer, says Mike Hamasu, the study's author, is "possibly."
"I don't want to be Chicken Little and say the sky is falling or anything," Hamasu said. "But I think there are signs out there that indicate that there is a possibility" that the retail market is cresting.