Russia dominates the shopping centre development pipeline in Europe with more than 5 million m2 under construction, according to CBRE.
Russia dominates the shopping centre development pipeline in Europe with more than 5 million m2 under construction, according to CBRE.
New research published by the property adviser indicates a 'staggering' 1.88 million m2 of new shopping centre space has been developed across the European market in the first six months of 2014. Shopping centre development activity has largely remained concentrated in emerging markets, with a large proportion (84%) taking place in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE).
Across Europe, over 4.5 million m2 of shopping centre space opened in 2013 with Russia, Turkey, Poland and France seeing the greatest completion of space respectively. Russia and Turkey remain the most active markets, with over 60% of Europe’s shopping centre completions in 2013 located in these two countries. Russia has developed 1.5 million m2 of new stock in 2013.
The development pipeline in Turkey continues to be sizeable with more than 2.6 million m2 of shopping centre space under construction in H1 2014. This high rate of construction is due to an improving economy and a continuing interest of developers in regional cities.
Other countries with notable shopping centre development in the pipeline include the Ukraine (793,760 m2), Germany (564,275 m2), Poland (559,590 m2), France (491,970 m2) and Italy (489,170 m2). As has been the trend for several years, much of the activity is taking place in CEE but Germany saw a significant increase in shopping centre stock under construction in 2014, following the completion of the Sky Plaza in Frankfurt in 2013.
Natasha Patel, associate director, EMEA Retail Research, CBRE, commented: 'Shopping centre development activity levels in Europe are similar to what they were last year in terms of location, with new construction dominated by CEE. In Turkey the majority of development, certainly the larger schemes, is taking place in the major cities such as Istanbul with smaller scheme development taking place in the outer regions such as Izmir in Turkey.
'The scale of new development is largely to due to economic growth in the region, a growing middle class and the increasing demands of cross-border retailers, many of whom have found that the existing retail space in the region does not meet their requirements.'
