Mall Vacancies Soaring In U.S

U.S. malls and shopping centres are seeing a 10-year high in the fourth quarter in connection with U.S. mall vacancies. This trend continues to rise as declining retail sales put more stores out of business reports research firm Reis Inc.

Vacancy rates rose up to .5% from 6.6% to 7.1% in the third quarter, rendering the in the largest quarter to quarter jump. For neighbourhood and community shopping malls, the rates for shopping mall vacancies rose .5% from 8.4% to 8.9% in the third quarter. Reis began tracking these figures in 2000.

Economic gloom was evident late last year as retailers such as Circuit City Stores Inc., Linens ‘N Things Inc. and Sharper Image Corp., filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008 thanks to the credit crunch and recession based drop in sales. Reis has reported that these mall vacancies will continue to rise until the job market heals, housing prices stabilize and lending practices resume again – not to mention the restoration of consumer confidence.

Retailers will close approximately 12,000 stores in 2009, after reporting the world holiday sales in almost 40 years. These gloomy facts come as no surprise when one tries to understand the rising rate of mall vacancies in a year shrouded by economic turmoil.