With Labor Day Weekend upon us, retailers are gearing up for the Fall/Holiday season. It is a good time to take a look at the forecast for the retail market. The news highlights trade tensions with China, the low interest rate environment and continued speculation that the U.S. economy is "due" for a recession. But continued job growth is also in the news (and see chart below).
As the chart below shows, retail rents are projected to level off and remain steady. While this is projected for the market as a whole, different areas and sub-markets are likely to experience drastically different market conditions. For instance, for many "zombie" malls (those with a large number of vacancies, particularly former large anchor tenants), much remains to be seen - how many of these malls will survive, and what will they need to do to make it. On the opposite end of the spectrum, many new developments include retail components, which offers opportunities for businesses to take prime positions in the heart of our areas' newest communities.
Note that these charts and statistics were compiled with data from CoStar. If you have questions about the Boston retail market, need help finding tenants for your property or are a business in need of finding a new retail space for your business, don't hesitate to contact us.