PRRF summarises retail in H1

In the first six months of this year, the supply of modern shopping centre space in Poland increased by 176,800 sqm gla. The largest proportion of the new supply was completed in smaller cities and towns (with populations of less than 100,000 inhabitants) – 37 pct, followed by bigger cities (with populations of 199,000–399,000 inhabitants) – 35 pct.

The largest shopping centres completed in the first half of this year include Tarasy Zamkowe in Lublin (38,000 sqm gla) and Galeria Neptun in Starogard Gdański (25,000 sqm gla). Smaller newly delivered projects include Galeria Głowno (6,000 sqm gla), Era Park Wieluń (6,000 sqm gla) and Galeria Sanok (7,500 sqm gla). Around 43 pct of the space completed in the first half of 2015 constituted extensions of existing schemes. The most significant projects of this kind include the extension of Ogrody in Elbląg (22,500 sqm gla) and the next phases of Wroclaw Magnolia Park (16,600 sqm gla) and Atrium Copernicus in Toruń (15,200 sqm gla).

At the end of June 2015, there was app. 745,800 sqm of modern shopping centre space under construction, of which almost 60 pct is scheduled for completion by the end of the year. The largest amount under construction was located within the eight largest conurbations (60 pct). Extensions of existing schemes constituted only 12 pct of the space under construction. The largest projects under construction include Posnania (99,000 sqm gla), Wroclavia (64,000 sqm gla) and Zielone Arkady in Bydgoszcz (51,000 sqm gla). The vacancy rate for the 15 largest retail markets in Poland reached 3.1 pct at the end of June 2015, which was an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared to the end of December 2014. Among the eight largest conurbations, the highest vacancy rates were recorded in Upper Silesia (4.2 pct), Kraków (3.7 pct) and Poznań (3.7 pct). The lowest level was in the Warsaw (1.5 pct) and Szczecin (1.6 pct) areas. Among the seven retail markets in cities with populations of between 199,000 and 399,000 inhabitants the highest vacancy was recorded in Bydgoszcz (6.4 pct) and Częstochowa (5.6 pct), while the lowest were in Lublin (2.5 pct) and Białystok (3 pct).

The greater Warsaw areas (1.4 mln sqm gla) and the Katowice conurbation (1.1 mln sqm gla) remain the biggest retail markets in Poland. Among the eight major urban centres, Szczecin has the lowest supply of modern retail (268,000 sqm gla). The highest density ratio of modern retail is to be found in Wrocław (773 sqm/1,000 inhabitants) and Poznań (757 sqm). The lowest level is in Szczecin (480 sqm/1,000 inhabitants).

The data includes modern retail stock, newly delivered schemes, projects under construction, the amount of vacant space in the fifteen major retail markets in Poland, and the retail space density ratio (sqm per 1,000 inhabitants).

The Polish Retail Research Forum (PRRF) was founded by international advisory companies CBRE, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, DTZ and JLL. It aim is to promote and maintain transparency in the retail real estate market.