Rock-bottom consumer confidence and a bleak labor market have crippled the retail real estate segment.

Due to recessionary conditions, retail real estate will be significantly afflicted for the remainder of this year and well into 2009, according to the bi-annual “Retail Real Estate Report” issued today by Boston-based real estate firm, Colliers International.

Several reasons drive this slowdown in retail markets and the anticipated ongoing repercussions in the quarters to come: The U.S. economy contracted during the third quarter, with further declines anticipated in both the fourth quarter and through until at least the second quarter of next year; consumer confidence has fallen to levels not witnessed since record- keeping began in 1968; the labor market has already shed 1.2 million jobs in the first 10 months of 2008, with more job losses expected for the remainder of 2008 and into 2009; and the Labor Department said last week that consumer prices fell by 1 percent in October, the biggest one-month decline ever, based on records that go back to February 1947.