Retail investment down 50 percent y/y in Q1-Q3

The volume of retail real estate investment transactions between January and September 2014 came in at €416 million, 50 percent less than in the corresponding period of last year, according to Cushman & Wakefield. “Despite this notable drop in the investment activity, investors continue to show strong interest in prime retail assets in Poland. The factor halting the investment activity is the dearth of supply of such assets,” said Łukasz Lorencki, senior consultant at Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital markets department. The only large-scale scheme that changed hands this year was Poznań City Center, while last year transactions involved the sale of Silesia City Center, Galeria Dominikańska and Złote Tarasy (the sale of Warsaw City Council’s shares in the center). “We predict that in Q4 as well as in the whole of 2015 the supply of large-scale facilities and retail portfolios will rise, which should be followed by an increase in the number of transactions,” Lorencki added. The deal volume for the entire EMEA region totaled €11 billion in Q3 versus €8.6 billion for the same quarter in 2013. UK remained no. 1 retail market in Europe, with a 47 percent market share.