2000-3000 Malls will close in the next few months!

At least 200,000 stores and 2,000 to 3,000 malls will close in the United States this year, the bulk of them in the next few months, forecasts Burt Flickinger III, managing director of New York consulting firm Strategic Resource Group.

"In the more marginal malls, a quarter to a half of the space will have the lights turned off, and then you'll see whole abandoned shopping centers," he said.

The National Association of Realtors predicts that the retail vacancy rate will rise to 12.7 percent in the third quarter, up from 9.8 percent in the comparable quarter last year. Rents will drop 7.3 percent, on top of the 2 percent decline in 2008. And absorption, or the amount of space leased, will plummet by 35.7 million square feet.
Debt coming due for publicly traded mall owners in 2009 and 2010: $23 billion***
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