Commercial property market models have become increasingly sophisticated. However, the retail sector and analysis of retail markets at the local level have been comparatively neglected. Explores the retail rental change at the local level, focusing on consumer expenditure as the key determinant of change. Investigates the appropriateness of proxy variables and explores the mechanisms of rental change which highlights issues and difficulties unique to local level analysis. The article then investigates the relationship between rental change and underlying changes in consumer expenditure. The stability of a panel model of rental change is examined, with differences in market functioning identified across diverse groups of key local retail investment markets. These differences highlight the re-emergence of northern markets during the economic decline and recovery phases of the 1990s. Rental levels in larger and smaller markets are also seen to respond to changes in consumer expenditure to significantly different degrees, in periods of both increase and decline. References. Appendices. [Taken from journal abstract].