Vacancies up at U.S. open-air centers, down at malls in fourth quarter

Vacancies were up at U.S. open-air centers during the fourth quarter, but down for regional malls, according to data from New York City-based real estate research firm Reis. The vacancy rate at open-air shopping centers rose to 10.9% from 10.6% a year ago, according to research firm Reis. That's still significantly below the 30-year record high of 11.1% vacancy recorded by the firm in 1990. Meanwhile, at regional and super-regional malls, vacancies fell to 8.7% in the fourth quarter from 8.8% both in the third quarter and a year ago, Reis said. Retailers absorbed about 92,000 s/f of new or empty shopping center space last quarter, less than the 474,000 s/f absorbed in the third quarter, Reis said. In the fourth quarter of 2009, retailers vacated about 2.6 million s/f of space, the firm says. Effective rents, or what tenants actually pay, dropped to an average $16.56 per s/f in the fourth quarter for open-air centers from $16.81 a year ago, Reis said. At malls, fourth-quarter effective rents were slightly up from a year ago to $38.79 per s/f.