Storm cloud circles retail: Reis

Retail vacancies continued to climb through the first quarter of 2010, according to real estate tracking firm Reis. Community shopping centers and shopping malls saw vacancy rates hit 10.8 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively, in the first quarter of 2010. The overall Reis outlook on retail is quite grim. The report predicts that consumer spending is unlikely to stabilize over the next 18 months and, therefore, “project[s] increasing vacancy levels and negative asking and effective rent growth through 2011,” the report says.