Yet Credit Suisse still expects real estate investment trusts focused on malls to perform quite well.
A paradox? Not quite.
First, sales remain strong at so-called class-A malls that include chic foreign brands such as Zara and Uniqlo. What's more, the forces of supply and demand seem to be doing their thing: recent growth of mall square footage has been just 1 percent per year, and the result is a 94 percent occupancy rate.
With little slack, owners should be able to raise rents by an average of 13 percent in 2015, according to Credit Suisse, which also forecasts that malls will be the best investments among REITs in 2015, expecting them to yield 14 percent returns. Take that to the bank - it's on the second level, just past the food court.
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