U.S. shopping centers had a net gain in occupancies in the first quarter amid a slow economic recovery, according to property-research company Reis Inc.

Occupied space rose by a net 275,100 square meters, the second-largest increase since neighborhood and community retail centers began losing tenants in the first quarter of 2008, New York-based Reis said in a report Friday. So-called absorption was up from 717,000 square feet a year earlier.

“The first quarter produced more evidence in favor of a slow recovery,” Ryan Severino, a Reis senior economist, said in the report. “We remain cautious about pronouncing a turnaround until we observe a couple more quarters of improvement.”

Retail landlords are benefiting as consumers spend more amid improving employment. U.S. chain-store sales last month rose 4.1 percent from a year earlier, the International Council of Shopping Centers said.

Shopping-center vacancies stood at 10.9 percent in the first quarter, unchanged from a year earlier and down from 11 percent in the last three months of 2011, according to Reis. It was the first decline in vacancies from a prior quarter since the second quarter of 2005.

Effective rents, or what’s paid after any landlord discounts, averaged $16.57 a square foot, little changed from $16.55 a year earlier and $16.56 in the fourth quarter. Rents remain close to late-2005 levels, Reis said.

At regional malls, which typically include department stores and are larger than neighborhood and community shopping centers, vacancies fell to 9 percent in the first quarter from 9.1 percent a year earlier. Rents rose to $39 a square foot from $38.75. 

(Bloomberg)