China accounts for 60% of global shopping centre pipeline - CBRE

Emerging markets, particularly in Asia, continued to dominate global shopping centre development last year with over 39 million m2 under construction, according to the latest research from CBRE.

China accounted for over 60% of the pipeline, with Russia, Turkey and India also possessing significant space under construction, the research found.

Globally, a total of 11.4 million m2 of new shopping centre space opened in 2014, compared with 10.6 million m2 in 2013.

Shanghai tops the ranking for most new space under construction with 4.1 million m2, followed by Shenzhen (3.4 million m2) and Chengdu in third place with 3 million m2, Chongqing and Guangzhou make up the top five most active markets with more than 20 projects in the pipeline.

However, supply of new development in China and India is at risk of slowing down due to the weakening economy and mounting financial pressures on landlords. Construction of some malls is on hold due to lack of funding or, in some cases, landlords considering changing the schemes to other uses.

Europe accounted for 20% of total completions in 2014 with Russia and Turkey continuing to dominate the new development pipeline. Moscow was the most active European country in 2014 and the only city outside of China in the top five. Notable schemes completed include the Avia Park which is currently Europe's largest shopping mall totalling 231,000 m2 of gross leasable area (GLA).

Istanbul saw the addition of eight new shopping centres totalling 440,253 m2 and also has one of the largest development pipelines in Europe. This has been led by the easy availability of credit in the Turkish market which has fuelled consumer spending.

Natasha Patel, head of EMEA retail research at CBRE, commented: 'Western Europe and the US continue to suffer from a lack of new development and extensions and refurbishments of existing centres will be a key focus in a bid to continue to attract key retailers and consumers.'

Click on the attachment (pdf) below for the full CBRE report