ICSC Las Vegas Takeaways: Retail Capital Remains Strong Amid a Shifting Market

Last week I had the privilege of attending ICSC Las Vegas.  Seemed like a normal trip but two days before leaving I was sent my 25th anniversary ICSC pin.   

To me, it was a bit of a surreal moment.  On the one hand I was thankful for the recognition and appreciation and on the other hand I could not believe that for 25 years retail has been such an integral part of what we do at Slatt Capital.  Retail has historically and continues to be a dominant product that we originate and source capital for.  Maybe it’s a function of the core lender relationships we have who focus on retail or maybe it’s because retail has consistently shown the ability to adapt to different economic and social hurdles over the past 25 years.  Either way, retail is a big part of what we do here, and it is always a pleasure to attend and experience Las Vegas ICSC.    

Observations 

• Capital is readily available for retail as the sector has performed very well across CMBS, life companies and bank lenders.  Shorter term loans from debt funds are also in play as many borrowers look to acquire short term funds in the hope that rates come back in over the next 12-18 months.    

• National and regional brokerage shop’s booths were crowded, showing that demand in the retail sector continues to be strong despite headwinds from interest rates. Q1-2026 transactional volume was reported to be the highest in the past three years.  

• Prevalence of all-cash deals continues to be seen across the retail acquisition space – not only REITs but high net worth individual investors/syndicators as well. 

• Value-add opportunities seem to be plentiful, but some are just too heavy of a lift due to the combination of higher rates or costs to transition the properties.  

• Equity for retail construction is limited, and borrower/developers are turning to higher LTC debt funds and similarly structured banks to help fill the gap. 

• Cap rates for strong national credits continue to hold despite uptick in rates.  Cap rates for non-credit / marginal credit, or what I would call “headline news” tenants, continue to creep wider.  Focused widening in cap rates continues for shorter term leases with over-market rents (think WAG). 

• Underwriting continues to be aggressive as retail performance among portfolio and securitized lenders has outperformed other sectors.  Grocery-anchored retail properties have seen the biggest decline in debt yield (lender cap rate) compared to the traditional sector leaders, industrial and multi-family.   

• Demand for in-line national and regional tenants continues.  Rents across the country for in-line retail strip centers or shadow-anchored strip centers continue to hold and show there is continued demand for these tenants to grow.  There is a major focus on Sun Belt and Southern U.S. markets where there is high population growth.   

• There is a significant lack of new supply coming online, and that should continue to keep rents at historical high levels for the foreseeable future.  

• An additional highlight at ICSC this year was the introduction of Women’s Day programming. Attendees spoke highly of the event, and many indicated they would participate again if the program was offered in future years. 

• General feel for attendance was strong, but as with many large format conferences there are increasingly more off-site meetings or events. Conference leadership needs to find a way to keep costs of the event down while encouraging industry folks to attend the actual event on site.   

• Where are the lenders?  Over the last handful of years, the lack of lenders at the conference is notable.  Of course, there are some but in comparison to the early 2000s and pre-Covid, the number of life companies, banks and other traditional lenders in attendance has dramatically fallen.   

This year’s ICSC Las Vegas reinforced retail’s resilience and continued importance in the capital markets. Strong lender appetite, sustained investor demand, healthy leasing fundamentals, and limited new supply all continue to support the sector despite higher interest rates and shifting underwriting dynamics.  

Would enjoy hearing your point of view if you attended this year’s conference. Let’s connect!