Shopping for Value? Malls Now Rank as Hottest Commercial Real Estate

The fastest-growing commercial properties on the market today are malls. Shopping centers are having a resurgence, with the real estate sector’s value gaining 13% over the past year. That tops the other 10 commercial property sectors tracked by analytics firm Green Street, including offices, and is more than double commercial real estate’s overall growth. 

The US’s largest mall owner, Simon Property Group, has outperformed the S&P 500 this year. The company’s shares hit a record high over the summer not seen since 2016, the heyday of bomber jackets and double-G Gucci belts.

Teens Crave 2016 

Malls started losing their cool amid the rise of online shopping and the decline of department stores. But COVID is what made the massive third spaces start to look more like the settings of zombie movies than rom-coms. Mall staples including Victoria’s Secret and J.Crew shut down hundreds of stores across the country. Green Street estimates only about 900 malls are left standing in the US, with 200 shutting down since 2008. 

But now, 2026 is shaping up to be the new 2016 as teens return to the mall:

• Foot traffic for the latest month climbed 6.6% at open-air malls and 5% at indoor shopping centers, their biggest gain of the year so far. Visitors have also been hanging out at malls longer than they did last year, and they’re expected to spend more time shopping as the year moves into the holiday season. 
• But BOGO sales at department stores probably aren’t responsible for bringing back shoppers. Simon Property Group has instead poured hundreds of millions of dollars into renovating individual malls, adding popular restaurants like Din Tai Fung and Gen Z-favorite retailers like Princess Polly. 

Window Shoppers: Malls may be becoming the go-to third space again, but 2026 is fundamentally different from 2016, and not just because the jean-legs are wider. Now, mall patrons may be window-shopping and trying on sizes in stores and then adding items to their cart from their laptop when they get home. That disconnect can make it harder for retailers to quantify a store’s success. Still, foot traffic means shoppers are engaging with the brand, even if the payoff is delayed a little.