Highlights of our report include:
The trend identified last year, a flight to quality, is continuing apace. The best quality centers are filling vacancies and maintaining proforma rents better than during the past several years.
Owners of troubled secondary centers may continue to hold on if they have large cash equity positions and/or long-term stable financing. However, even historically low interest rates cannot save owners who need to refinance “at-risk” centers. Retailers who demand only A+ real estate are now stymied by lack of available space and are pushing lease rates to pre-recession levels and sometimes generate build-to-suit and redevelopment opportunities.
We predict a sizeable number of secondary centers will return to lender control in 2012.