The REITs are rent-seekers when they lobby government to enforce laws restricting people from choosing alternative housing and retail options. Zoning laws are rooted in racism, classism, and cronyism.
Malls are dying because the model on which they were built was always unsustainable, and the crash the 2007 revealed the weakness in malls especially when confronted with the reality of online competition. They were an experiment that is due to fail.
I suspect real estate in general along with the stock market is a bubble being reinflated with the money supply inflation from so many rounds of QE. The money flows to the coffers of the connected as always. But when the bubble bursts, they will be left holding the bag. Too bad the tax system forces so many average folks to rely on the stock market for retirement too, though.
One thing that disturbs me about the huge REITS is that they seem to be able to get zoning concessions when local property developers are unable to get concessions. Zoning commissions will not allow people to build fourplexes, but they roll over for political connected concerns wanting to make a stack and pack. A hundred free standing fourplexes would do more for a community than a megacomplex with 400 apartments.