Shopping space dives

New shopping centre development in Europe suffered the biggest decline last year since 1983, a report from Cushman & Wakefield shows. The commercial property and real estate services business said about 56m sq ft of shopping centre space was completed last year, a fall of 30 percent from 2009. It was the second consecutive year of declining completion levels and represented the lowest annual completion total since 2004.

However, Cushman & Wakefield expects development to pick up in 2011 with over half of the markets predicted to see an upturn in activity. Some 74m sq ft of new space is scheduled for completion by the year end.

Market conditions remain uncertain across many parts of Europe, and the pipeline may increase or decline with projects restarting or being delayed depending on economic growth, retail sales and occupier demand. This year’s development total would exceed last year’s by 33 percent if all of the schemes are finished on time, Cushman & Wakefield said.