Profound Growth in Retail Despite Online Shopping Rise

The latest Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson Forecast California Commercial Real Estate Survey found retail development has surprisingly shown steady growth across all markets. While ecommerce continues to be a growing trend among consumers, the Survey’s positive sentiment suggests developers have realized the most successful retail centers are those that offer consumers enticing dining options, entertainment and a wide variety of merchandisers, many of which are resorting to utilizing smaller retail space. Two-thirds of the Survey's panelists stated that they were planning new retail construction in the coming 12 months, in addition to half of the panelists who stated they started at least one retail project in 2015.