Volume of grocery strip asset sales for the 12 months ended March 31 dropped a striking 80% YOY (year over year) to $2.2B (billion). Volume for Q1’09 declined 74% from Q1’08 to $261M (million). Sellers of grocery strips were forced to readjust their expectations as they accepted 91.9% of their asking price, a substantial drop what was achieved one year earlier. Sellers of other strip assets had to adjust expectations as well, and achieved 92.6% of their asking price.

Average pricing for grocery strips declined around 9% to approximately $146 a square foot. But average pricing for other strip properties increased 6% from year-ago levels, climbing to $204 PSF. Average cap rates for grocery strips increased by almost a full percentage point to 7.5%, while caps for other strip properties rose a more modest 47 bps to slightly under 6.9%.

Private buyers dominated, with 61% of the sales volume. Institutional and public investors were significant buyers, accounting for a combined 24% of volume on a dollar basis. The Southeast was the most active region, accounting for 42% of sales and $913M of transaction volume.