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The retail real estate industry is the bedrock of economies around the world — from the U.S. to Europe, and from Latin America to Canada, ICSC Research studies on each region reveal. In all these markets, retail real estate serves as a major source of employment, tax revenue and wealth.
Nearly 34 million jobs in the U.S. are connected to retail real estate, amounting to more than one in six jobs. The industry contributed $3.8 trillion to America’s GDP in 2016, accounting for 20.3 percent of the total. Retailers with physical establishments are responsible for 90.7 percent of all U.S. sales, while online-only retailers generate only 4 percent.
Canada’s retail real estate industry contributes some C$2.1 trillion ($1.6 trillion) to that country’s GDP, amounting to 13 percent of its total. Canada has upwards of 3,700 shopping centers (in excess of 40,000 square feet), and the industry there provides a job for one out of every 10 Canadians — 1.7 million jobs in total. Canadian retail spending generates about C$25.5 billion in sales taxes there per year.
Latin America’s growing and thriving retail real estate industry accounts for one in seven jobs, and the industry contributed nearly $800 billion to the region’s GDP in 2016, comprising 17 percent of the total. Retail sales generated some $134.3 billion in tax revenues across Latin America in 2016. Physical stores were responsible for 93.1 percent of the $796.7 billion in retail sales reported in the region in 2016.
Europe’s economy too depends heavily on retail real estate, which employs some 27 million people — one in eight — across the EU. Household consumption accounts for 56 percent of European GDP, and much of that spending — €761.7 billion (roughly $896 trillion) — took place in shopping centers in 2016. Sales of goods and services in the EU generated nearly €1.73 trillion in tax revenues in 2016, of which nearly €471.8 billion was derived from shopping centers.
“Wherever in the world you are, you can be sure that the retail real estate industry is a vital engine of growth,” said Jean Lambert, ICSC’s vice president of research. “And in many economies, its role is growing.”