When big investment companies look to invest in real estate in other areas they typically look at the make-up of an economy to see if there is stability. 

When I say stability, I mean, you don’t want to have an economy that is too heavily dependent on one particular sector, i.e. Las Vegas and tourism.   Think of Jim Cramer on CNBC when he analyzes stock portfolios to see if they are “Diversified”.   The same thought process goes with investing in real estate.  You want to make sure the economy is “Diversified”.  If not, then if that particular sector takes a dive, usually the economy as a hole takes a big hit that could take years to recover from.

One would think that Hawaii’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism.  Think again.  Over the past decade, Hawaii’s economic make-up has changed significantly.  The local government has gone to great lengths to change Hawaii’s dependency on tourism.

Check out this recent article regarding Hawaii’s Economic Make-Up.