NEW YORK CITY-With Thanksgiving come and gone, Americans' focushas shifted from their bulging waistlines to their wallets. Withfull-throttle holiday shopping underway, it's an ideal time to lookat large East Coast retail markets and determine why Santa isdelivering gifts to some investors and lumps of coal to others.

On the whole, the retail property segment has struggled to keep up withthe broader economic recovery because both cyclical and secularheadwinds have prevented any significant improvement inabsorption.

Many markets—particularly those where economies are recoveringslowly and employment remains below its prior peak—are unable todrive demand for retail space. This, combined with the ongoingacceleration in e-retail sales, has led to store downsizing and alack of new openings. Nationally, this has kept vacancies ator near their peak cyclical levels and rents near their trough.