Outlet centers increasingly attractive for investors – report
15:23
Two record-breaking pan-European investment transactions signed in the outlet center market earlier this year testify to the increasing maturity of the sector in the eyes of property investors, according to a recent report by Cushman & Wakefield. In two concurrent deals, the IRUS European Retail Property Fund, sponsored and managed by Neinver Group, sold a total of ten outlet shopping malls across Europe for a combined €1.28 billion, which makes the disposal the largest European retail transaction of 2016, the study said. TH Real Estate acquired a total of six outlet centers in Spain, Italy and Poland fore more than €700 million, while VIA Outlets bought a total of four outlet centers in Germany, Portugal, Spain and Poland for over €580 million. “The European sector has come of age and is no longer a specialist, niche market. This has been demonstrated by the most recent deals which are significant by any measure,” said Richard Ching, a partner in Cushman & Wakefield’s outlet valuation team. He added that over the past three years, sales turnover in outlet centers has risen broadly by 8 percent annually, an income growth rarely seen in other sectors, which has increased investor interest in the outlet center sector. According to Paweł Partyka, an associate, capital markets, at Cushman & Wakefield, the outlet center market in Poland follows European trends, both in terms of improving performance and yield compression. “Outlets run by professional operators have become an interesting investment product and are in demand, also from core capital. Taking into account the growing consumer spending power and new premium brands entering the Polish outlet market, the future of this sector looks optimistic,” he said.
