Mall Vacancy Rates Hover Around 5%

Highlighting the difficulty in finding the perfect location for an Apple store, a real estate survey found that the fourth-quarter 2005 shopping mall vacancy rate was just 5.4%. The survey by Reis Inc. also found that mall space rental rates averaged $38.08 per square-foot in the the 67 top U.S. markets during the last quarter of 2005. Rents increased just 1% during 2005, the company said.