Retail space vacancy in the Denver metro area fell to the lowest level since 2008 in the fourth quarter of 2013. Direct vacancy came in at 6.6% which was down from third quarter and fourth quarter of 2012. Average lease rates rose to $15.83 per square foot, up 24 cents quarter-over-quarter and 45 cents year-over-year. Boulder saw the biggest increase with a $1 per square foot from third quarter. For the year, investors bought $798.9 million worth of retail assets which out-paced 2012 both in sales and number of sales. Retail space under construction represented only 376,000 which were far below the 20-year average of 285,000 square feet per quarter and significantly below the 2008 of 1.75 million square feet. The best performing submarkets with the highest lease rates were Boulder at $21.24 per square foot, Colorado Boulevard/Midtown including Cherry Creek at $19.84 and Central Denver at $19.65. The lowest lease rates were the Northwest submarket at $12.91 which also had the highest vacancy rate of 9.3%. Colorado Boulevard had the lowest vacancy rate at 3.4%.