It is an exciting time to be involved in retail real estate, especially if you are a seller or owner of such an asset. Investors are bullish on this segment of the market especially as leasing and other fundamentals show sound growth.
This year there are a large number of retail investment opportunities coming to market, Ryan Ash, Vestar Project Director, tells GlobeSt.com. GlobeSt.com spoke with Ash at the recent ICSC event held in Las Vegas.
"We have seen investors recognize best-in-class retail centers as a crucial part of their portfolio and the demand for these assets is as strong as it has ever been," he says. Leasing activity has been a crucial part of this investor pull, Ash adds, noting that its team executed a record-breaking number of leases last year across its 30 million square foot portfolio. "This has led to record high occupancy at our centers in conjunction with our tenants experiencing record sales that exceed 2019 levels."
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Rents are also on the rise in no small part due to the relative lack of construction in recent years, Daniel Katz, founder and managing partner at KPR, noted in an ICSC session.
"There is a big appetite for retailers to grow," he said. "If you have good retail, you have been able to push rents incrementally across the portfolio."
Katz also pointed to the volume of product coming to market in terms of deal flow, saying "NOI growth is really going to hold true."
The average deal has traded at a 6-cap, according to Brandon Svec, national director of US Retail Analytics of CoStar and another ICSC panelist. "We are expecting some cap rate expansion but we are also looking at a very high growth environment for retail as it stands today. That will help offset cap rate expansion."
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
