Commercial Real Estate … Shopping Center Vacancies Increase

commercial real estate

According to research firm Reis Inc, the vacancy rate in U.S. strip centers during the second quarter rose 0.10 percentage point from the first quarter to 10.9%, slightly below the 11% in 1991 during the prior real estate bust, according to the Reis quarterly report, released last week.  Retailers gave up 1.85 million square feet of occupied space in the second quarter at neighborhood shopping centers, while developers opened less than 400,000 square feet of new strip mall space.  That compares with an average of about 7 million to 8 million square feet of shopping centers built each year from about 2001, according to Reis.

Asking rents fell 0.3% from the first quarter to $19.07 per square foot, the lowest since the end of 2006.  Factoring in months of free rent and other perks landlords offered to attract and retain tenants, effective rent fell 0.5% to $16.58 per square foot, the lowest in nearly five years.  Reis said that roughly half of its clients plan to take advantage of the cheap rents in their expansion plans.  At large U.S. malls, the vacancy rate rose 0.10 percentage point from the first quarter to 9%, the highest since the first quarter 2000, when Reis began tracking regional malls. Asking rent fell 0.2% to $38.72 per square foot, marking the seventh straight quarter of decline. Asking rent was the lowest in more than four years.

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