CALABASAS, CA-As GlobeSt.com recently reported, US employers added just 69,000 jobsin May (the weakest monthly total recorded since May 2011). Still,the rise in employment, earnings and hours was enough to bolsterconsumer confidence, which clearly catalyzedretail sales performance, according toMarcus & Millichap’s recently releasedResearch Brief blog written by Hessam Nadji,M&M’s managing director of research services.Sales receipts for department stores strengthened due to newstrategies that included downsized formats, renovations, selectiveclosings and repositioning, and property-sector fundamentalsexhibited improvement nationally as well.

Professional and business services, alongwith education and health services, are the sectors that leadnational employment growth, according to M&M’sresearch. The research also shows that national retail netabsorption totaled 60 million square feet in 2011, nearly doublethe record-low 35 million square feet completed, and the overallvacancy rate declined 30 basis points to 9.7%. Nationally, askingand effective rents averaged for all retail types remainedunchanged, stemming 12 consecutive monthly declines in effectiverents, and projections call for a further decline in vacancy to9.2% by year end.

Interestingly enough, softer consumer demand may have a positiveeffect on industrial production, the blogcontinues. The reduced demand is leading to businesses scaling backinventory levels, and while reduction in inventories drags GDP, itcan also provide fuel for a recovery. When spending begins to gainmomentum, businesses will need to increase production rather thanpulling from existing stockpiles of goods to meet the new demand.Therefore, the blog predicts that the industrial sector will be theprimary commercial real estate sector to benefit from increasedproduction.