"The developers are taking it on the chin," Bill Chalmers, Trammell Crow vice president of development services, tells GlobeSt.com. "The only beneficiaries are the credit tenants. They have the leverage when it comes to rent."

In contrast to high retail vacancies found elsewhere in the country, the survey estimates that the South Florida vacancy rate dropped by about 7.6% by midyear from 8.59% as of Dec. 31. The midyear report includes the following averages for Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties:

Vacancy rates now average 7.94%. Net absorption totaled about 432,000 sf. Asking rents averaged $15.01 per sf, down 13 cents from the year-end report, but still above the 2000 mid-year estimate of $14.46 per sf.