According to CBRE, in its report "EMEA Shopping Center Development", the recovery of the Spanish economy has helped to improve the performance of the assets, as well as the confidence of the developers and constructors, which contributes to this pipeline.
In the first half of this year, were inaugurated ca. 1 million m2 of new shopping centers in Europe, in the Middle East and in Africa, and more than 11.1 million m2 of new space are under development.
Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Russia are the most active countries of the area in terms of shopping centers development, representing more than 50% of projects under construction. Turkey has the largest pipeline under development in this period, with 2.2 million m2 under construction. The United Arab Emirates has a similar pipeline of 2 million m2.
Andrew Phipps, Director of Retail Research in the UK & EMEA at CBRE, explains that "the level of shopping centers under construction remains closely correlated with retail sales forecasts. Unsurprisingly, the markets for which there is a high volume of sales are attractive to constructors as both retailers and the occupation depend on continued market growth.”
The UK has the largest volume of shopping centers under development in Western Europe, with a total of 460,000 m² of new projects to open in the next 5 years. The country is followed by France, with 409,000 m² and by Spain.
On the other hand, the enlargements represent 20% of the shopping centers stock in the EMEA region, with the United Kingdom, Ireland and Austria leading the enlargement projects underway. Only Westefield London will have 69,000 m² more.
Portugal, a market considered very mature and with a good geographic coverage, register this year the opening of 2 shopping centers, totaling 81,100m² and no new openings are expected in the near future. New expansion projects are underway or under consideration, such as Oeiras Parque, or NorteShopping and Colombo.
The director of the UK & EMEA Retail Research at CBRE highlights that "shopping centers expansion is boosting building levels, and shows that successful shopping centers are prepared to adapt to structural change in the retail market and to reverse online commerce by providing more room for a true retail experience.”