Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that develops and leases retail real estate, specifically regional malls, shopping centers, and strip malls. It the largest public U.S. real estate company, and^[1][2]its investments tend to be in large metropolitan areas with very high consumer traffic and are comprised of anchor department stores alongside smaller retailers. Since Simon Property Group's holdings are substantially retail properties, it is particularly affected by the willingness of retailers to lease space in shopping centers. Simon Property Group relies on high consumer retail demand so that retailers have high demand to lease space in its malls so that it can negotiate higher rents. This is especially true with tenants of smaller retail stores in Simon Property Group's malls, many of which are on short-term leases of several months to a year, as opposed to the tenants of anchor department stores that are under leases of 5-10 years. For the full year 2010, Simon Property Group reported a total revenue of $3.93B and a net income of $610M.^[3]

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