Less Shopping centres Eastern EU

The Shopping Centre Boom in Eastern EU countries has come to an end. In 2009, there were still around 500 projects in Eastern Europe, but much less new projects are planned for the years after. 

Research conducted by Regioplan Consulting reviewing shopping centres, retail parks and hypermarkets in 17 EU countries, shows that the number of shopping centre projects was still high, but significantly less new projects were registered compared with 2007.It is expected that in 2009, a break-even point is reached, and that afterwards the hype in the retail property sector is over. A decline in office real estate projects was already evident. This is mainly due to the fact that investors have become much more cautious. But there is also certain saturation. In the medium run, the focus is less on new projects, but it is more the optimization and modernization

of existing (older) shopping centres, as is currently the case in the Czech Republic and Hungary.A focus on new centres in Croatia, Ukraine and Russia
Real estate developers are currently very popular in the Ukraine and Russia, because there is still much to do there and both markets are huge. But also Croatia is an area of development; in this relatively small market, the shopping centre area will be doubled from its current 640,000m² by end of 2009. The size of planned retail parks will be up to 170,000 m², and a first factory outlet centre, the ‘Roses Fashion Outlet’, will be opened in the Zagreb area.Some large investors include:

• Metro Group Asset Management - with 750 properties in 16 countries and manages the properties in the Metro Group.
• EMCM - a leading company in the field of shopping centre management and advising on real estate investments in Eastern Europe.
• Spar European Shopping Centres (SES) - developer, builder and operator of large commercial real estate.
• Wolf Theiss Rechtsanwälte - With 11 offices and 300 lawyers in East and Southeast Europe, the largest law firm in the region
• TPA Horwath - one of the leading tax and audit companies in Austria and in Central and Eastern Europe.
• Others such as CPB Properties Trust, St. Michael & Partners, Eyemaxx Real Estate, Mercator Slovenia, WSW BeteiligungsgmbH.

Published on 30 July 2010