Turkey's largest cities will face oversupply of retail space by 2010, according to Koray Ozgul, managing director of retail investor and developer Corio. Ozgul, who was speaking at the ICSC Europe conference in Amsterdam, said that a total 2.5 million m[sup]2[/sup] of shopping centre space will be added to the Turkish market by 2010, bringing the total stock in the country to around 6 million m[sup]2[/sup]. About 63% of this amount will be delivered in the cities of Instanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
Turkey's largest cities will face oversupply of retail space by 2010, according to Koray Ozgul, managing director of retail investor and developer Corio. Ozgul, who was speaking at the ICSC Europe conference in Amsterdam, said that a total 2.5 million m2 of shopping centre space will be added to the Turkish market by 2010, bringing the total stock in the country to around 6 million m2. About 63% of this amount will be delivered in the cities of Instanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
'Oversupply in primary cities must be seriously taken into consideration,' Ozgul said. 'With more than 60 existing shopping centres, Instanbul remains the Turkish city with more retail stock per 1,000 inhabitants. Developers and investors should start considering moving to secondary cities in Eastern Anatolia where the market is still untouched.' At present, Turkey has a total 171 retail centres with another 145 currently under development in the country.
