Hawaii office is concentrated across Honolulu (Oahu) and Maui (Lahaina, Kahului, Wailea), with secondary product on the Big Island (Kona, Hilo) and Kauai (Lihue, Princeville), with materially different lender appetite by submarket and tenant credit profile. Hawaii's CRE market is structurally defined by extreme land scarcity, a tightly regulated entitlement framework, a deep tourism and military employment base (Pearl Harbor, Hickam, Schofield Barracks, Kaneohe Bay MCBH), and the highest construction costs in the country (per Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism reports, 2024); the post-Lahaina-fire (August 2023) Maui rebuilding cycle is a central ongoing CRE variable . Honolulu CBD Class A office anchored by financial-services, military-contractor, and law-firm tenancy is a structurally supply-constrained submarket; Maui and Big Island office is a thin regional-bank market.
Active capital sources
- Life Companies
- CMBS Lenders
- Hawaii Regional Banks
- National Debt Funds
Loan programs we place
- Stabilized Class A Perm Debt
- Credit-Tenant Office Financing
- Office Bridge / Repositioning Capital
- Refinance / Recapitalization
Source notes
- BLS QCEW, 2025
Frequently asked questions
What is the current LTV for Honolulu office assets?
Long-WALT credit-tenant Class A office typically clears 55% to 65% LTV through life companies and CMBS, supported by tenant credit and weighted-average-lease-term sizing . Conventional speculative office is meaningfully more selective and frequently sizes to debt yields of 10.0% or higher rather than headline LTV.
Is non-recourse debt available for Hawaii office?
Yes for stabilized institutional executions. Life-company, CMBS, and most national debt-fund executions on long-WALT credit-tenant office are non-recourse with standard bad-boy carve-outs. Smaller-balance regional bank loans, most office bridge loans, and conversion / repositioning loans typically carry partial recourse, particularly for newer sponsors or during repositioning lease-up periods.
What is Hawaii's transfer tax structure for commercial office?
Hawaii imposes a graduated state conveyance tax: for commercial property over $10 million, the rate is $1.00 per $100 of consideration (1.00%) and rises to $1.25 per $100 above $10 million for non-resident transferees (Hawaii Department of Taxation, 2024). Total transfer-side tax burden on a typical $10-25M Hawaii commercial transaction runs roughly 1.00% to 1.25% of consideration, among the highest in the country.
Is conventional Honolulu CBD office still financeable?
Yes for stabilized Class A with strong tenancy, capital-reserve adequacy, and credible long-term tenant retention assumptions, but the lender pool is meaningfully narrower than for life-sciences, GSA-leased, or single-credit-tenant net-leased product. Smaller deals (under $50M) frequently come down to a competitive process between in-state regional banks and a couple of life-company correspondent shops. Office-to-residential conversion bridge debt is available through a focused subset of debt funds active on Hawaii files for sponsors with experienced conversion track records.