Mall industry's hopes show dents

The U.S. shopping center industry can't ditch the recession tag.

The latest gloom comes in a new report from Reis Inc., a New York City-based real estate research firm. The report, to be sure, shows a quarterly drop in the vacancy rate at malls and strip centers. But that decrease isn't enough to get the industry excited about 2013.

On the shopping mall side, the average vacancy rate in the fourth quarter fell to 8.6%, down from 8.7% in the 2012 third quarter. That's five consecutive quarters of a decrease. The average vacancy rate at strip centers, meanwhile, dropped to 10.7% in the fourth quarter, from 10.8% in the previous quarter.

The report, however, is loaded with potential problems. Demand for new tenants, says Reis, remains incredibly weak. The national unemployment rate is still around 8%, and a gross domestic product increase of 2% in 2012, the report states, is a clear disappointment.