CHICAGO—As reported in GlobeSt.com, cap rates for single tenant net lease properties have fallensteadily for several years, regularly hitting newhistoric lows each quarter as more investors put in bids. In the third quarter ofthis year, however, the national cap rates for retail propertiesheld steady at 6.5%, according to new research by theBoulder Group, perhaps indicating that the longplunge in that sector has bottomed out.

The number of retail properties on the market also heldrelatively steady and helped keep the rates level. “The supply ofretail properties increased by only 3.1% from the second quarter tothe third quarter as new construction remains limited with theexception of the dollar store sector,” noted Boulder, a commercialreal estate firm located in suburban Chicago.

Dollar store operators stand out as the nation's most aggressiveretailers and have added several thousand new locations over thepast two years. “This is the most new construction by number ofstores than in any net lease sector out there today,” Blanksteintold GlobeSt.com. “The dollar stores have been in a race to outpaceone another.” He expects that developers will finish as many as1,500 new stores this year. However, the most recent attempts to acquire the FamilyDollar chain should dampen investor interest “as peoplewait to see how this plays out.”