Retail Condo Building Sales in the Washington area Surged to $4.7 Billion

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Mixed-use Urban Projects Have Drawn Retailers and Investors in DC

Apartment and condo building sales in the Washington area surged to $4.7 billion in 2011, a $1.1 billion increase from 2010 and a sign that investors’ efforts to buy into D.C.’s surging demand for rentals in particular is on the rise, according to newly released data from CBRE GroupInc. Multifamily sales for the year surged from $3.54 billion in 2010, according to CBRE. 

The brokerage’s District-based Multi-Housing Investment Properties team reported its own sales volume increased to $1.8 billion, up from $1.4 billion in 2010. Properties near Metro stations tended to command the strongest sale prices and rental rates increased more in the District than in its outlying suburbs, the brokerage said. www.bizjournals

Retail condominiums become popular with investors , expect to see a lot more retail condos coming to market within the next two to five years, because there are so many mixed-used developments under way nationally.

Deals are coming on the market in D.C. that will be over a $1,000 a square foot.” Retail condos will compete for single-tenant property deals. Instead of buying a Starbucks drive-through in a tertiary market, now you have a choice to buy a Starbucks retail condo, where there are a million people in a five-mile radius. www.icsc.org

 An increase in mixed use residential condominiums brought about by population movement toward the urban core  and  a pause in expansion by national retailers has contributed to the wide-ranging demand for NNN urban properties.  Coming on the heels of the recession and the ensuing across-the-board hike in cap rates, this move to dense, high traffic urban locations signals where investors want to be over the next decade. Recently identified as a top niche investment trend by the Urban Land Institute (ULI), mixed-use urban projects have drawn retailers and investors to this asset type even in the current market cycle.  Driven by a desire to spend less time in traffic, live in a smaller footprint and work and play within an urban atmosphere, aging boomers are leaving the edge and making their way back to the city. www.calkain.com

Retailers Posting Results that Beat Expectations

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 85 % of Retailers Posting Results that Beat Expectations

 Monthly retail sales at stores open at least a year rose 7.2 per cent from last June, with 85 per cent of retailers posting results that beat expectations, according to Retail Metrics.

The figures heightened optimism over the crucial back-to-school shopping season and signalled a narrowing of the performance gap between retail leaders in the discount and luxury sectors and their mid-market laggards.

 

 

Continuing a trend of recent months, the luxury sector also posted strong growth with sales up 11.9 per cent at Saks, the upmarket department store, and 12.5 per cent higher at Neiman Marcus, one of its main rivals.

In the mid-market segment – which has been hit hardest by consumers’ cash woes – Gap posted a 1 per cent gain in sales that defied forecasts of another monthly decline as it struggles to revitalise its business.
Revenue at its Banana Republic chain, which offered heavy discounts last month, rose 3 per cent.
Among mid-market department stores sales rose 6.7 per cent at Macy’s, 2 per cent at JC Penney and 6 per cent at Dillards.
Limited, which runs the Victoria's Secret chain, posted a 12 per cent rise in same-store sales.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms

March Sales at Victoria's Secret, Costco Beat Analyst Estimates

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Victoria’s Secret, Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) and other retailers posted a surprise gain in sales last month as improving U.S. employment encouraged some consumers to shop.
Same-store sales at Victoria’s Secret, owned by Limited Brands Inc., rose 19 percent, more than 10 times the rate predicted by estimates compiled by Retail Metrics Inc. Industrywide, retailers posted an increase of 2.2 percent, compared with the average projection for a 0.5 percent drop.

Columbus, Ohio-based Limited rose 19 cents to $35.42 at 9:56 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Costco of Issaquah, Washington, advanced $3.21 to $78.20 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Retailing Index climbed as much as 0.8 percent.

http://www.bloomberg.com/