Report: Retail sector powers past the pandemic, with gains in several areas

Tacos and toiletries, with some balloons and burritos on the side — that’s the trick these days to filling a retail plaza.  

So says a new report from real estate giant JLL. The second quarter update report notes several interesting nuggets that bode well for the sector, including a rise in new leases. A little more than 250 million square feet of nationwide retail space has been signed for in the last 12 months, the report shows, and current estimates put the final second-quarter 2022 leasing number at 78 million square feet. That tally would be the highest since the fourth quarter of 2017, the report states.

In addition, U.S. net absorption remained positive for the sixth straight quarter — though it dipped 12.2% to 18.9 million square feet. Over the past 12 months, net absorption hit another five-year high, of 94.3 million square feet.