As of the end of the third quarter of 2010, retail REITs had $14.44 billion in cash and line of credit availability, according to Jones Lang LaSalle's analysis of Bloomberg data. That's down from $17.11 billion at the end of 2009, but higher than previous points in the past seven years.
Overall, the figure works out to $3.27 billion in cash and equivalents and $11.17 billion in availability on existing lines of credit.
The cash figure is down from $6.17 billion at the end of 2009 while the credit figure is down slightly from $10.94 billion.
Simon Property Group alone accounts for nearly the entire change in cash. At the end of 2009 Simon had $3.96 billion in cash versus $1.01 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2010. For the other 26 REITs included the figure rose from $2.21 billion in 2009 to $2.26 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2010.
Sources: Bloomberg, Jones Lang LaSalle