Cushman & Wakefield: 4Q2015 U.S. retail report

​​​​UNITED STATES – As fourth quarter 2015 came to a close, U.S. shopping center vacancy was 8.0 percent, unchanged from 3Q2015 and marking the 15th consecutive quarter of steady or declining vacancy in the marketplace.

Cushman & Wakefield is currently tracking over 314 million sf of available space in the over 3.9 billion sf of shopping center space (including community/neighborhood, power/regional strip and lifestyle centers) across more than 65 major U.S. markets.

During 4Q2015, availability declined slightly—by roughly 2.3 million sf—but the decline was not enough to push the overall vacancy rate upward. Indeed, since peaking at 10.3 percent in 1Q2010, shopping center vacancy has fallen in 20 of the last 23 quarters.

The shopping center market recorded nearly 9.8 million of occupancy growth in 4Q2015, bringing annual net absorption for 2015 to just under 39 million sf. 

This is 17.5 percent below the 47 million sf of occupancy growth posted in 2014 but well above the 33 million sf of positive annual net absorption that the market has averaged since the current expansion phase began in 2010.