Miami-area retail rents increased almost 2% from Q1 to Q2 this year, a pace of rent growth that leads the nation, according to Colliers International's most recent market reports for South Florida, released last week. Miami's retail rents now average just under $37 per SF.

Roughly 460K SF of retail space was leased last quarter in Miami-Dade County. The largest lease, 30K SF, was to Pinstripes, a bowling concept moving into a former Sears in Aventura. The vacancy rate for the county held steady from the prior quarter at 4.2%.

"Sales price per square foot is at a record high in Miami-Dade at $355, largely due to sales in the highly desirable Lincoln Road and Miami Design District areas," Colliers officials wrote.

Colliers pointed to a 24K SF retail building sold on Lincoln Road for $826 per SF and an 8K SF building in the Miami Design District that sold for $1,445  per SF as examples of Miami's rent growth and scarcity driving up retail values, despite the prolonged national retail slump.

Colliers said that Miami's retail market has outpaced the nation because of its population growth — South Florida's average growth rate is around 2% per year, well above the U.S. annual growth rate of 0.71% — and record tourism numbers. Clearly, developers are ready to meet any influx of shoppers: 3.7M SF of retail is under construction in the county.