The 1980s Valley Girl is On Food Stamps: Mall Investment Is Dying

06-09-2011 • BusinessInsider.com/ & CalculatedRisk.com

Shopping center construction in the U.S. has hit a 40-year low, according to research from the CoStar Group. From CoStar: New data from CoStar shows the square footage of new shopping centers developed in 2010 was a 40-year low. Specifically, 12 million square feet of shopping center space was completed in 2010, the slowest U.S. industry growth on record since at least 1971. For comparison purposes: - 184 million square feet of shopping center space was developed in 2006 - The 40-year average of new shopping center square footage developed each year in 132 million square feet. Josh Brown asks whether this is a cyclical or permanent trend: The question becomes one of permanence. Have shopping trends changed to the point these feet ain't coming back? Or will development return once lending and borrowing gets back to a healthy level and businesses begin expanding again? While it's easy to say that this downturn is the result of a massive collapse in the U.S. real estate economy, it could also be the result of a new long-term economic reality