U.S. Mall & Retail Outlook
Phillip Moltz
Executive Director, Portfolio Management
Will McIntosh
Global Head of Research
John Kirk
Senior Director, Research
Mark Fitzgerald
Senior Director, Research
Strategic opportunities for mall investments
Executive Summary
USAA Real Estate believes there is an attractive investment opportunity in the mall sector due to significant mispricing of the risk across a number of these assets. This opportunity has been created, at least in part, by the emergence of a widely held view, frequently presented in the national media, regarding the negative impact e-commerce may have on the retail space. As a result, many investors have heavily discounted malls that are not in the “trophy” Class A category.
We believe the categorization of malls as troubled, or in decline, has been too broadly applied. While as many as half the malls in the United States (U.S.) may be destined for closure, or significant repurposing, we believe a large number of malls will survive and indeed thrive, working in concert with a maturing e-commerce industry.