Shop Till They Drop: Retail Construction Keeps Booming.

Staff

Construction spending for shopping centers of all types and sizes--from neighborhood stores to destination malls--will expand more than 40% this year, and an additional 12% in 2007.

Construction spending for shopping centers is up 50% over the last 12 months, and is currently triple the low value reached at the bottom of the last building cycle, 2002-03. Similarly, construction spending for larger malls has doubled while spending for stand-alone general merchandise stores has increased 50%. In fact, the shopping center boom is so strong that it is not