Europe sees sharpest decline in retail development for 27 years
Published: 31 March, 2011
New shopping centre development in Europe fell sharply in 2010, with the largest decline since 1983, according to Cushman & Wakefield
The agent calculates that around 5.2 million sq m of shopping centre space was completed last year, a fall of 30 per cent from 2009. This was the second consecutive year of falling completion levels and represented the lowest annual completion total since 2004.
However, C&W expects development to pick up in 2011 with 6.9 million sq m of new space scheduled for completion by the year end, a 33 per cent increase on 2010.
Russia recorded the highest development total of all the European markets, accounting for a quarter of new space opened last year, and the largest scheme completed in 2010 was the 144,300-sq m City-Park Grad shopping centre in Voronezh, which is now the biggest shopping centre in Russia outside of Moscow. This year, the 170,000-sq m Westfield Stratford City in London will be the largest.
