The £527m sale of a 50 per cent stake in Meadowhall to London & Stamford meant that shopping centre investment turnover increased in the first quarter of 2009. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, the first three months of 2009 saw £817m of investment deals from seven shopping centres, an increase from £255m from eight deals in the first quarter in 2008. The average lot size also increased, with £38m compared to £32m in 2008.
Robin Coady, chairman of JLL’s retail capital markets team, said: “There has been more activity in the first quarter of 2009 than in the corresponding period last year but because of the value destruction it does not feel like that. Yields have shot up in the last two quarters with evidence now coming through for good secondary stock at 9 per cent.
“The sample is small and skewed by the Meadowhall transaction and so it is difficult to draw too many conclusions but what we do know is that there is not a huge pipeline of deals currently under offer with few open market opportunities. There are some core long term investors looking to buy whilst the market is fearful with the majority of interest from opportunity funds,” Coady concluded.
