Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
22 February 2019 – Expansión
Shopping centres and retail parks are still fashionable despite the boom in online commerce. In this context, Spain is going to increase its retail surface area by 650,000 m2 over the next three years with the opening of 17 new centres by 2021. In addition, eight of the existing centres are going to be expanded to 267,250m2, according to data from the Spanish Association of Shopping Centres and Retail Parks (AECC).
These openings follow those completed in 2018 when 8 centres were opened spanning 233,700 m2 in total (…).
Spain currently has a gross leasable surface area of 16 million m2, spread over 563 shopping centres and retail parks, which generate 720,000 jobs, 46% of which are direct.
This growth in space is being accompanied by rising interest from investors in these types of assets.
Last year, transactions amounting to €2.2 billion were closed, just below the record of €2.7 billion recorded in 2017 (…).
In operational terms, sales at shopping centres and retail parks rose by 2.7% last year to €45.5 billion, whilst visitor numbers increased by 3.1% to 1.97 million. Sources at AECC forecast continued sales growth, albeit at a slower rate than in previous years due to a deceleration in domestic consumption (…).
Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)
Translation: Carmel Drake