Prloperty market performance
Published: 01 September, 2010
Stephen Springham, head of retail research at King Sturge, reports that the shopping centre market has seen significantly higher volumes of transactions due to the hardening of pricing, which, in turn, has allowed a number of investors to exit with a profit. However, the activity has primarily been confined to the prime/good secondary end of the market.
Against this backdrop, capital values for all retail grew by just 0.4 per cent in June 2010, according to IPD’s Monthly Market Segments. This was the slowest rate of growth since August 2009. Although shopping centre values increased at a slightly higher rate (0.5 per cent), they were unable to buck the underlying slowdown.
“On a more positive note, the slow recovery in occupational markets continues apace,” notes Springham. “Although rents remain in negative territory, the rate of decline is receding.”
Rents for all retail in June were down by -0.13 per cent, with shopping centres down by -0.24 per cent. “This was less than half the rate of decline recorded in the previous two months – further evidence of a market cautiously finding its feet, rather than staging a dramatic recovery,” Springham concludes.
