SoCal Retail Market COVID-19 Impact Survey

Looking back, the 10-year trend in Southern California showed healthy demand for retail space with positive rent growth and declining vacancy.

The current Q1 2020 data does not completely reflect the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown and the economic impact on retail markets.

Asking Rent Trends

The pandemic has impacted the ability of retailers to operate normally and the full effect of business closures has yet to be captured in the market statistics. Retail has for years faced the challenges of slowing foot traffic, changing shopping patterns and online competition in an upheaval that market watchers dubbed the “retail apocalypse.” Now nearly all retailers, landlords and suppliers feel the pain. With everyone under pressure, including creditors, the financial impact will be devastating the longer the shutdown remains in place.

Vacancy Rate Trends

Looking forward, the coming quarters will provide a clearer picture of the impact on the retail market as the COVID-19 outbreak continues to develop. As retailers close down or severely cut business operations for an indefinite period because of the coronavirus threat, heightened vacancies and negative rent growth are predicted in the coming quarters.

Retail Broker Survey Results 

We conducted a COVID-19 Impact Survey of our retail market professionals to help landlords and tenants get a pulse of where the market could be headed.

Our retail brokers were asked, “Where do you see the retail market headed in the next 3 months?”

Below are the key takeaways of our survey for the Southern California Retail Market.