Early in the pandemic, given the closures and restrictions in many metro areas and the ascendency of e-commerce, retail looked as though it would quickly be down for a long count. But, as MSCI points out, sometimes things don't work out quite as you expect.

"Retail property sales performed better than many other sectors for November," they wrote. "Volume fell less than it did for other property types and prices were not down as sharply. Sentiment was negative for the retail sector early in the pandemic, but as some of the worst fears for the sector were not realized, investors have been pursuing targeted investments in the sector."

The sector did much better — maybe because people are inherently drawn to the social aspect. Perhaps they find that many types of products are more difficult to buy remotely than those promoting e-commerce would think because you can't necessarily gauge the quality, fit, or other characteristics important to a consumer. And, of course, people got insanely tired of being locked up by themselves.