The European retail-centres market is expected to see another year of growth, largely on the back of developments in Central and Eastern European countries, investor.bg reported on March 12, quoting a Jones Lang LaSalle consultancy report.
Trade centres occupying a record-breaking six million sq m have been developed in 2007. In the next two years, Russia alone will see six million sq m of retail areas delivered. Italy, Turkey and Poland's markets will add two million sq m of retail areas to their current stock in the coming two years.
Even developed markets like Britain and Germany will add 1.5 million sq m of new retail developments. Ukraine expects the construction of one million sq m of trade centres.
The Russian market is still driven by the enormous demand for retail space in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, where the vacancy rate is under one per cent.
About 70 retail projects are about to be delivered in Turkey in 2008 and 2009, but the ratio of sq m retail area per capita in the country is still bellow the average European levels.
Europe's most dynamic market is in Poland, the report said, as quoted by investor.bg. The market there registered a 17 per cent increase in 2007.
