Growth in Retail Real Estate

2 October 2017

The ‘Shopping Centre Yearbook – Portugal 2017’ has reaffirmed the vitality of the sector. According to the report, there have been four consecutive years of growth in sales per square meter in Portuguese shopping centres.

The yearbook also shows that there was a slight decrease in footfall during the same period (2013-2016).

The 14th edition of the Portuguese Association of Shopping Centres’ (APCC) analysis of Traffic and Sales Indices in Portuguese shopping centres, gives a clear picture of the sector in the chapter ‘National Analysis’. The growing dynamism of this retail real estate industry in recent years is a result of the investments made during the crisis, which increased the quality of the projects and whose impact is now reflected in the growth of sales of their stores.

The APCC Sales Index has not stopped growing since 2013. It should be noted that this indicator measures year-on-year changes in gross leasable area (GLA), and increased by 1.4% in comparison to 2016. On the other hand, a slight decrease in foot traffic has been another characteristic worthy of emphasis, revealing a behavioural change in the way the Portuguese use shopping centres.

According to António Sampaio de Mattos, president of the APCC, “analysis of the figures revealed by the indices shows an increase in the average ticket per visitor, implying that consumers are viewing their shopping experience with growing objectivity.” This evolution is not unexpected, “the dynamics of innovation in all aspects of the Portuguese shopping, something that is part of the sector’s DNA and that the Portuguese have known well and cherished for more than three decades.”

“The themes of technological upgrades to the centres, increased services for customers, and the profound reformulation of the food and beverage offer, are not foreign elements in our industry. One should recall that national shopping centre operators showed tremendous resilience during the years of crisis, investing in upgrades to installed capacity, betting that when the unfavourable cycle would come to an end, that shopping centres would be much better able to cope with challenges of the future.”

Original Story: Magazine Imobiliário

Translation: Richard Turner