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ICSC POLL: EXECS UPBEAT ON HOLIDAYS

Shopping center executives are optimistic about the industry as a whole and expect this year’s holiday sales to be stronger than last year’s, according to a new monthly survey of industry leaders launched by ICSC and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

In most critical industry categories — such as month-over-month sales, occupancy rates and capitalization rates — the 62 executives polled in the first issue of the Shopping Center Executive Opinion Survey said that September was stronger than August. In the category of consumer traffic, September was equal to the previous month, they said. The area that fell slightly from August was that of rent increases on existing leases.

The poll also showed that respondents have favorable expectations for the next six months, with most predicting that sales, traffic and occupancy will jump. As for rent increases and cap rates, a majority of executives say results will be similar to their current levels. The survey is available to members each month on the research section of ICSC’s Web site, www.icsc.org.