It was tough times for US retailers in the pandemic year of 2020 and into 2021, as forced store closings and huge growth in on-line sales led to thousands of stores being permanently shuttered amid warnings about the"retail apocalype" enveloping the sector.

That was then, this was now.

According to new data from real estate company Cushman & Wakefield, vacancies at US shopping centers fell to 5.3% in the fourth quarter, the lowest level since real-estate firm Cushman & Wakefield began tracking the metric in 2007. Average asking rents rose to $23.70 a square foot and are now nearly 17% above 2019 levels, as can be seen in graphic below:

Source: Cushman & Wakefield

What's more, store openings outpaced closures for the second straight year in 2023 after years of net closures, according to research firm Coresight Research

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