More shopping centres will be built in Slovakia than in the Czech Republic this year

22 Apr, 2010, Bratislava

Shopping centres were built primarily in Central and Eastern Europe last year
Shopping centre development declined 19% on average in Europe in 2009

7.4 million sq m of new floor space in shopping centres was built in Europe last year. More than one half of the new space (57%) was built in CEE countries. In Poland and Slovakia, the amount of floor space completed even exceeded the figures for 2008. The Czech Republic posted a decrease in construction, which is set to continue, says Cushman & Wakefield’s European Shopping Centres Development report.

“The construction and extension of six shopping centres with a total floor space of 101,000 sq m is planned in the Czech Republic this year. This is 19 percent less than in 2009. The Czech Republic is seeing the downscaling of development that developers had decided on back in 2007 – 2008. At the time, it was apparent that the market would gradually become saturated and the construction boom of the previous years would subside”, says Martin Žížala, head of Cushman & Wakefield’s retail team.

Unlike the rest of Europe, Poland and Slovakia post continuing growth. Construction in Poland keeps growing thanks to the size of the consumer market. Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants are still of interest to both developers and retailers and are not fully occupied yet. The situation in Slovakia is completely different.

“Conversely, the Slovak market is relatively small and developers only “discovered” it in 2005 – 2006. After that, both domestic players and large international developers got really busy. Slovakia is now seeing the completion of projects launched back then. This is why more new floor space will be opened in Slovakia than in our country this year”, says Martin Žížala.

“The development of a shopping centre including the preparatory phase takes about four years. The advantage in the Czech Republic is that developers had adapted their activity to the market even before the crisis made them do this. As a result, the market is balanced now and we do not see a massive overhang of available space”, adds Martin Žížala.

There is currently 225 sqm of shopping centre retail space per 1,000 citizens on average in the European Union. All Central European countries (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland) are still below the average. The Czech Republic is closest with 192 sqm/1,000 citizens. Poland follows closely (173 sqm/1,000 citizens).

Development of new shopping centres clearly prevails over extensions of existing ones in Europe. 89 percent of all space built last year is situated in brand new shopping centres. The remaining 11 percent is attributable to extensions or reconstructions of existing centres. This trend has prevailed in the Czech Republic in the long run as well.

Construction in Europe is expected to slow down in the short-term perspective – 6.1 million sq m should be built this year and 5 million sq m next year.

back to real estate News & Events

Printer Friendly Version

Contact Us

For further information, please contact:

Lucia Prossek
+421 259 209 311

More contacts