Romania came out first among five opportunistic markets for shopping center development

Romania ranks first out of the five opportunistic destinations for shopping centers, according to recent research by Savills real estate consultancy, “mainly thanks to fast growing consumer spending and retail sales expected over the next five years.” Romania outranks Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria, with an estimated growth in consumer spending of 6.1 percent per year and a growth of 6.2 percent per year in retail sales. On average retail sales are expected to grow by 1.9 percent per year until 2017 in the surveyed countries (1.9 percent per year in EU 27) with some strong growth expected in Romania (6.2 percent per year), Poland (4.2 percent) and the Czech Republic (3.1 percent), according to the Savills research. In Romania, “the shopping center density is the lowest of the 16 countries analyzed, 84 sqm per 1,000 inhabitants offering good development opportunities.” Meanwhile, the prime shopping center yield in Bucharest is 8.75 percent, the highest in the survey area after Dublin. Germany, UK, France, Norway and Sweden are still core destinations for shopping centers due to their market sizes, economic stability and stable consumption. The full report from Savills here. editor@romania-insider.com