Mall rentals fall up to 50% as second Covid-19 wave hits business

Developers non-committal about rent waivers, offer longer revenue-share periods

Mall rentals plunged 40 to 50 per cent in top cities in the first quarter of 2021 and could fall further, according to consultants who help lease these properties, with the second wave of Covid-19 hitting businesses across sectors. This is the steepest decline at least in a decade, they said.

“Basically, as most malls have moved from a minimum guarantee to a pure revenue-share model, the impact on actual rent received by developers is 40 to 50 per cent lower compared to pre-Covid times,” said Susil S Dungarwal, founder of Beyond Squarefeet, a mall management and advisory firm.

Minimum guarantee means