News
OVERBUILT RETAIL?
March 9, 2011
 |
| The Dallas retail market has fought a long, hard battle, says Reis analyst Brad Doremus, and it doesn't appear to be winning. The sector?s opponent is none other than … itself. While the consumer certainly hasn?t been in much of a buying mood in recent years,overbuilding within the sector has been a key headwind for the metro, similar to retail?s experiences nationwide. 2010 marked the10th consecutive year in which completions in Dallas topped net absorption. Good news: Construction slowed tremendously in 2010 as a minimal amount of new space came online. However, occupied stock still fell by 596k SF, the second consecutive year of negative absorption. Quarterly trends demonstrate some hope for the sector; although absorption was negative in each quarter of 2010, the magnitude of declines decreased in each successive quarter. In Q4, occupied stock dropped 34k SF of space. Reis expects net absorption to turn positive in 2011, though vacancies will probably climb if scheduled projects are completed. |
