Retail Sales Show Signs of Recovery
Retail Traffic reports: For what seems like an interminable stretch of time, we’ve been waiting for things to get better.
The industry peaked in early 2007, but the floor didn’t drop out entirely until a year later—after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy made it feel like the whole world was free falling. The stretch from late 2008 into 2009 was a dark period, marked by rapidly eroding fundamentals, mass store closures, retailer liquidations and retail real estate firms on the brink.
But things have been improving for a while. Since the second half of 2009 the industry has plodded along. Conditions did not get a whole lot worse in most areas, but they showed no real signs of improvement either.
Now, suddenly, it feels like the recovery is here. The numbers are bearing that out.
Numbers from global commercial property research firm Real Capital Analytics’ show that investment sales volumes on retail properties jumped in the third quarter and offers were up for the fourth quarter. The bid/ask gap between buyers and sellers has narrowed. Banks are increasingly dealing with dud loans and bad assets. Lenders are loosening up a bit. As a result, deal activity could double next year, bringing us back to a level of activity on par with 2004—before things got out of hand.
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Posted by: Nina Turner