Share
Each day the Research staff takes a look at recently released economic indicators, addressing what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses department store sales vs. discount store sales.
- Consumers are steadily beginning to show back up at malls. During the recession of a few years ago, department stores got hammered as consumers mostly went to discount outlets.
- Today’s data on same store retail sales shows a gain of 3.1 percent at department stores with sales rising 3.6 percent at discount shops. The narrowing of the gap in sales trends between the two types of stores is consistent with a better economic outlook in the minds of consumers.
- Some commercial real estate investors have been buying up strip malls by borrowing from the bank at a 3% rate. Provided the strip mall gives, say, a 7% cap rate (rental income divided by purchase price), that is an easy 4% into the bottom line. Now, some investors may want to seek out mall purchases that yield good cap rates since there is a revenue recovery in department sales.
Notice: The information on this page may not be current. The archive is a collection of content previously published on one or more NAR web properties. Archive pages are not updated and may no longer be accurate. Users must independently verify the accuracy and currency of the information found here. The National Association of REALTORS® disclaims all liability for any loss or injury resulting from the use of the information or data found on this page.
