While stuttering economic outlooks weigh on most businesses, owners of shopping centers are thriving, with REITs up 2% to 4% this year when the markets closed Monday.
By contrast, office REITs have been hit by concerns over tenant demand weakening as the economy slows, and apartment REITs have sunk over worries of a supply glut.
The key is that shopping centers are full of stores consumers frequent regardless of economic woes, like grocers, discount-clothing stores and pharmacies, the Wall Street Journal reports.
As Drew Alexander, CEO of shopping-center landlord Weingarten Realty Investors, puts it: “They’ll buy hamburger instead of filet mignon. But the important thing is they still come to the center.” [WSJ]
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