Poland stood out from its regional counterparts so far in 2010 and witnessed stronger investor interest for well performing shopping centres. However, in the short to mid term, capital will return to the rest of CEE and more prime product will become available for sale across the whole region.

Poland stood out from its regional counterparts so far in 2010 and witnessed stronger investor interest for well performing shopping centres. However, in the short to mid term, capital will return to the rest of CEE and more prime product will become available for sale across the whole region.

This is one of the findings of Jones Lang LaSalle's new CEE retail research report -Looking beyond the short term. The report reviews the retail development opportunities and potential across Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. It analyses five key issues and trends in the CEE retail environment: economic strength & growth potential; Development market sentiment; Leasing market sentiment; Investment market sentiment and long term market trends.

The report notes that the global crisis impacted all CEE markets and each found itself in different economic situation, therefore each of the countries requires individual attention. With some positive economic indicators such as GDP growth forecasts, inflation levels, growing retail sales and foreign direct investment inflow, the economy in most of the CEE states is stabilising. Poland was the only EU and CEE country to avoid recession with positive GDP growth and positive retail sales performance.

The overall sentiment on the retail market, according to the report, is reasonably optimistic in most of the countries which indicates further retail development potential in the whole region. The construction of new schemes will be continued, albeit much slower. In addition, modernisations and extensions of existing older type of shopping centres will be undertaken.

JLL says that retailers remain selective in choosing location for new stores with quality, positioning and location being the key factors. Prime shopping centres will be favoured and featuring higher demand, low vacancy rates, and possible rental growth. Increasing interest in high street locations is also noticeable in Poland and Czech Republic.