August 25, 2010

Waimea real estate market update big island hawaii

The Waimea housing market, a portion of the Big Island real estate market, remains soft in the most recent tracking periods, despite some signs of strength in the commercial sector. According to a July 16, 2010 report from Pacific Business News, “A lot of construction activity is going on at the Waiakea Village. A group that includes Michael Silva of Pahoa Village Café has taken over the commercial complex of the Waiakea Village property, which involves 16-plus buildings. The plan calls for converting part of the area to a restaurant row atmosphere with multiple restaurants, a grocery store, art gallery and other retail businesses. One of the first changes will be converting the Old Uncle Mickey’s into an upscale restaurant with a banquet room. Also, Paulo’s Italian restaurant in Pahoa will soon be opening in the old Topo Gigio location. The real estate development subsidiary of Safeway plans to build a shopping center on the 25.4 acres of state land by the old Hilo Airport. The property abuts Kanoelehua Avenue, Hualani Street and the main runway area of the Hilo International Airport. Plans call for 279,446 square feet of retail space anchored by a home-improvement center. The property was used by the military during World War II and has been vacant since 1947.”

However, Waimea homes for sale and condos for sale continue to be adversely affected by the amount of foreclosures in the market. An August 1, 2010 article from the Honolulu Star Advertiser stated that “The Hawaii foreclosure mess spreading through Hawaii’s housing market is hitting condo projects especially hard, contributing to depressed property values and forcing many associations to raise monthly maintenance fees…Although residential foreclosures represent only a fraction of Hawaii’s overall condo inventory, their numbers are growing and the fallout is causing major budget problems for many projects already facing steep increases in maintenance, utility, insurance and other bills, according to real estate professionals and condo owners. “I’ve never seen it this bad,” said Hawaii First Inc. President Richard Emery, who has been managing isle condo properties for more than 20 years. His company oversees nearly 200 projects statewide. The foreclosure crisis is especially worrisome, real estate officials say, because Hawaii has the highest concentration of homes in condo and community associations of any state in the country.”