More Positive Economic Signs: DC Retail's Growing
This has been the summer of good news for the DC economy, and a new study reveals the retail sector in our area is also getting in on the action. Research firm Delta Associates found retail in the DC region added 6,300 payroll jobs in the 12 months ending in May 2015, the biggest gain since 2010 and almost double the 3,500 jobs added in 2014. That contributed to the across-the-board encouraging signs of growth for the DC economy, which added 57,000 jobs over the same time period. Retail vacancy rates are also down significantly, Delta Associates reports, and rents in NoVa and suburban Maryland are up around 2%. There are more than 12M SF of shopping centers in the regional pipeline right now. More developments than ever are including ground-floor retail, so the industry's growth couldn't be timed more perfectly.
