New report shows strong quarter for Hawaii’s construction industry

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A new report shows that construction in Hawaii got off to the fast start during the first three months of the year, totaling more than $2 billion.

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According to Pacific Resource Partnership, that far outpaced the last quarter, which totaled just $781 million in construction spending.

“Hawaii’s economy does continue to face some headwinds because of persistent inflation and geopolitical events,” said Andrew Pereira, PRP’s director of public affairs. “However, this very strong start to the first quarter of this year in construction spending allows the state to absorb some of those headwinds.”

Construction has helped to of set some of the losses from a slowdown in international tourism and federal job cuts.

According to PRP, more than $1.6 billion of the total was on Oahu, most of it from public projects, such as highway construction.

There’s also the continuing rail project, plus the redevelopment of Aloha Stadium is underway.

The PRP report also said, however, that there was a big year-to-year drop in private construction projects, such as housing. It fell from $1.17 billion in 2025 to $857 million.

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“Hawaii faces a shortage of 64,000 housing units, so it’s a bit concerning that multi-family and single-family housing totals are down in the first quarter of the year,” Pereira said.

Overall, the UH Economic Research Organization says construction grew more than any other industry in Hawaii last year. There are signs the sector continues to be strong; an internet search shows a high demand for construction laborers in the state.

UHERO predicts the number of construction jobs statewide will peak about 41,000, which would be an all-time high.

PRP believes construction of single- and multi-family units will have time to rebound.

“There’s still time to catch up and we expect to see momentum in these two critically-important sectors throughout the rest of 2026,” Pereira said.

There was one notable absence in the report. PRP said there was no spending on renewable energy projects during the first quarter.

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