Cushman & Wakefield: U.S. retail vacancy holds near historic lows at 6% in Q2 2026
CWK•Consumer backdrop
Retail sales rose 6.9% year-over-year, or 5.4% excluding gasoline; unemployment held at 4.2%.
Rents and supply stay supportive
Asking rents increased 2.2% year-over-year to USD 25.65 psf; new supply totaled 2.3 million sf.
The active development pipeline stayed below 0.3% of inventory, reinforcing tight supply and supporting landlord pricing power.
Q2 retail market fundamentals remain resilient
Cushman & Wakefield’s Q2 2026 U.S. Retail MarketBeat flagged resilient fundamentals as net absorption turned positive at 708,000 sf.
National retail vacancy rose 3 bps to 6%, staying below the 7.4% historical average.
