A Descriptive Analysis of the Retail Real Estate Markets at the Metropolitan Level

Gross Leasable Area (GLA) per capita is a commonly used measure to compare the retail market potential across different retail real estate markets. This paper uses GLA per capita to assess the supply of the retail space across 58 metropolitan areas in the United States. After a detailed descriptive analysis of the supply of retail space, we estimate GLA per capita for each metropolitan area using a modified version of the stock adjustment model. Initial findings indicate that the retail construction boom of the 1980s was not a boom at all and that GLA per capita can be predicted using a multi-factor model.