The U.S. retail market is currently on a long stretch of rock-solid performance at the property level. The national vacancy rate is at a healthy 4.1 percent, according to first-quarter 2024 research from CoStar Group. This comes one quarter after a stellar 4 percent vacancy rate at year-end 2023. What’s more is net store openings are on pace to be positive for the third consecutive year, according to research from Cushman & Wakefield. There have been more than 1,700 announced retail store closures thus far in 2024, with recent examples including Family Dollar, Express, Macy’s and 99 Cents Only. However, the number of announced closures has been outpaced by the more than 3,000 announced openings this year, including from the likes of Walmart, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Aldi and Target. With tight occupancy, due in large part to limited retail deliveries compared to historical norms, plus the influence of stubbornly high inflation, rental rates are also peaking. Rental rates ended the year at about $25 per square foot, which is a 3 percent increase year-over-year, according to CoStar. Matthew Mousavi, managing principal at SRS Real Estate Partners, says that retail real estate is performing so well that it now …
