City 31st globally in shopping centre space additions in 2014

New Delhi is ranked 21st, Hyderabad 23rd, as India continues to see wave of shopping centre development

Bangalore has been ranked 31st among the global cities actively adding shopping centre space in 2014, according to the latest Global Viewpoint from CBRE Research.

According to CBRE research, New Delhi is ranked 21st, Hyderabad 23rd, and Bangalore 31st, among the global cities with the maximum shopping centre space under construction in 2014.

India continues to see a wave of new shopping centre development despite some developers pushing back completion dates due to the financing issues.

Around 500,000 sq m of new retail space is under construction in New Delhi. The largest two projects, DLF Mall of India NOIDA (204,385 sq m) and Logix City Center Mall (111,483 sq m), are both located in Noida. Among tier II cities in India, Hyderabad is the most active market with a supply pipeline (483,000 sq m) presently three times greater than its existing stock. Buoyant occupier demand is pushing for a strong development pipeline in New Delhi with 500,000 sq m of new retail space presently under construction.

Globally, a total of 39 million sq m of shopping centre space is presently under construction across the major cities, representing a 3 million sq m increase from 2013, according to the report. Most of this development activity for shopping centre space around the world is focused in China.  According to the report, over half of the shopping centre space under construction in the 180 countries surveyed is taking place within China’s borders. Shanghai takes the first position with 3.3 million sq m of space under construction — more than the combined total of all 86 European cities, excluding those in Russia and Turkey. Just behind Shanghai is Chengdu with 3.2 million sq m, followed by Shenzhen and Tianjin with 2.7 million sq m and 2.5 million sq m under construction, respectively.

Commenting on the findings of the report, Anshuman Magazine, CMD, CBRE, South Asia Pvt Ltd, said: “Strong economic growth in many Asian markets has been attracting an increasing number of cross-border retailers. Though China remains by far the most active market for shopping centre development, the tier I and II cities of India are also among the most active globally.”

He added, “Unfortunately, however, there continues to exist a dearth of quality shopping space in many of our market places.”

Along with the large-scale urbanization of our leading cities and a burgeoning middle class population, it is this that has been driving shopping center development forward.”

“The scale of new development in Asia and China in particular is staggering but there are a number of quite understandable factors behind it. The most reported is economic growth, which continues although now with some signs of slowing down. In addition, Chinese cities, and many others in Asia, present a physical environment that lends itself to environment-controlled shopping centres. Outdoor shopping can be too hot, too humid, too cold, too wet, too unsafe or too dirty and polluted — modern shopping centres are none of these when managed properly,” said Sebastian Skiff, Executive Director of CBRE Retail.

Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia falls just outside the top 10 coming in as the 11th most active market globally. Southeast Asia has 3.3 million sq m under construction and nearly 40 per cent of this is located in the Malaysian city. In Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have also seen a large number of new developments in suburban areas and are seeing strong leasing demand from retailers attracted by lower rents and the lower-to-mid income residences nearby.