How much do mall owners in Romania lose because of the COVID-19 closedown?

The 65 malls active in Romania incur losses from uncollected rents totaling about EUR 45-50 million per month, Economica.net reported.

The estimation takes into account data from real estate consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

The result is also based on the assumption that the shopping malls' tenants will not pay any rent during the period when they can't operate because of the COVID-19 restrictions. The losses accumulated during the two months under the state of emergency could thus reach EUR 100 mln.

As of March 22, the non-essential shops in the commercial spaces were closed down by military ordinance. However, the shopping malls may remain closed for another two to three months after the authorities start relaxing the restrictive measures, as explained by health minister Nelu Tataru. Thus, the volume of uncollected rents could double to at least EUR 200 mln, according to Economica.net calculations.

Hypermarkets, supermarkets, and pharmacies, the only tenants that have continued to operate in local shopping malls, occupy 23% of the surface rented by the 9,000 stores in the 65 shopping malls. Still, their weight in total rents collected by property owners is visibly lower. The revenues of the 9,000 shops in Romania's commercial centers are evaluated at EUR 15-20 mln per day, resulting in EUR 450-600 mln monthly sales, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

The modern retail space stock (malls, retail parks, and commercial galleries) in Romania is about 3.9 million square meters. Supermarkets and hypermarkets occupy about 23% of the total area, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox data quoted by Economica.net.

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