Development of modern retail space hampered by the crisis

2009-09-18



There was a reduction of around 45% in the amount invested in commercial properties in 2008, to €1.7bn, which is one-third of the record-breaking figure of €4.9bn recorded in 2006, according to a recent report prepared by King Sturge. At present modern retail premises in the 40 largest towns in Poland take up around 6.5 million m², i.e. 587 m² per 1,000 residents. In the ten largest Polish cities modern retail space per 1,000 residents comes to around 700 m². The report states that Warsaw has 1.3 million m² of modern retail space, which is still far from saturation point.
The rate of new shopping centre launches will continue to slow over the next two years. At present, around 35% of investments have been suspended because of difficulties in obtaining financing.