IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
The Inland Empire retail market may be slowing.
Retail leasing in Riverside and San Bernardino counties is expected to reach 3.7 million square feet this year, according to Progressive Real Estate Partners in Rancho Cucamonga.
If that forecast holds, it would be a 35 percent drop compared with the previous seven years, when an average of roughly 5.7 million square feet of retail space was leased every year.
It would also be a significant year-over-year drop: 5.3 million square feet of retail space was leased in the Inland region last year.
The one-page analysis lists several possible reasons for the slowdown, including zoning limitations, a shortage of proper space size and inexperienced ownership. Another possibility is finding a retail category not represented in a retail center with 15 more categories.
The Inland market is also saturated in some areas, but the good news for landlords is that rent has gone up in many shopping centers, the report stated.
