Moody's associate director, and economist, Nick Villa has analyzed mid-year retail property performance by five geographic regions and 80 primary retail markets. The metric is effective revenue, which means occupancy as a percentage times rent in dollars per square foot. In other words, presuming equal rent throughout a property, effective revenue is the average revenue per square foot. It also reflects how much of the building is generating rent.

The effective revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 serves as the baseline. For the U.S. in general, that was $16.97 per square foot. That category in 2024 Q2 was $17.05, an increase of 48 basis points.

The five best-performing metros in terms of increase between 2023 Q4 and 2024 Q2 were Hartford, CT (+172 basis point growth from $14.35 to $14.60); Colorado Springs (+166 basis point growth from $11.74 to $11.93); Cleveland, OH (+166 basis point growth from $11.93 to $12.18); Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC (+1.63 basis point growth from $12.16 to $12.36); and Las Vegas, NV (+141 basis point growth from $17.37 to $17.61).