European shopping centre development activity will hit a five-year low in 2010, with only 7 million m[sup]2[/sup] of new space due to open, global real estate adviser Cushman & Wakefield has predicted.
European shopping centre development activity will hit a five-year low in 2010, with only 7 million m2 of new space due to open, global real estate adviser Cushman & Wakefield has predicted.
C&W believes the full impact of the global recession is likely to be most felt in 2011, when only 5 million m2 of space is predicted to open across Europe, the lowest figure since 2003.
In its new European Shopping Centre Development report, Cushman & Wakefield says that 2009 will see around 8.7 million m2 of new shopping centre space open - a decline of 5% on 2008. In the first six months, 3.1 million m2 of space in 115 new shopping centres opened in Europe, 18% less than the same period in 2008. Completion levels are not expected to pick up significantly for 2-3 years.
The largest amount of new shopping centre space opened in Russia, where approximately 580,000 m2 was added in the first six months of 2009, of which around 45% was built in Moscow.
In Western Europe Italy recorded the highest amount of new space, with 18 new centres adding just over 370,000 m2 to the market. Germany and the Netherlands also recorded relatively strong activity in the first half of 2009. Bulgaria recorded the largest percentage increase in shopping centre provision at 33%.