Shopping centers are the calm in a global financial storm, analyst says

The demise of the American mall is greatly exaggerated, held Sandler O’Neill analyst Alexander Goldfarb during a discussion of Brexit on CNBC.



“Dead mall stories are great, but when it comes time to drive earnings cash flow in stocks, that’s where those big powerhouse malls show through,” Goldfarb said. “For the global investor looking for safety and security, [it’s] U.S. real estate.”



Pressed by a CNBC host to qualify that he was referring to about A-level properties only, Goldfarb demurred. “If you go past Short Hills, if you go past Roosevelt Field, if you go past Sawgrass Mills, people are shopping. But also at power [centers],” he said. Go to Danbury Fair in Connecticut, a solid mid-level mall. The parking lot’s jammed every day.”



The strategic trend afoot, Goldfarb said, is that retailers are gravitating toward the most productive centers in their relative price points.