“Store closing” sales are going to become more common in 2025 as leasing activity continues to slow and scores of retailers go out of business.
Leasing has fallen 20% this year compared to this time in 2024, Cushman & Wakefield reports.
Rising rent and design costs started the downward trend in activity last year, and now tariff and trade uncertainty is amplifying the pullback. Retailers are delaying decision-making until the clouds around ever-changing economic policy dissipate.
That has pushed retail vacancy to 5.8%, a 50-basis-point increase over the last 12 months, and Cushman predicts it will reach between 6% and 6.5% in early 2026.
Net absorption was…
Source: Vacant Retail Space On The Rise As Tariffs, Closures Leave A Mark