vacancy in Moscow shopping centers may fall to 6-8% by the end of the year – Kommersant

The share of empty space in Moscow shopping centers may drop to 6-8% by the end of 2023. This forecast was shared by the regional director of the retail real estate department of NF Group, Evgenia Khakberdieva, at the conference “Retail Day: e-com, logistics, warehouses”, organized by the Kommersant Publishing House. At the same time, at the end of the first half of 2023, the level of vacancy dropped to 12.2% compared to a record 16% at the end of 2022.

According to Ms. Khakberdieva, the decrease in the share of vacant space was facilitated by the expansion of Russian retailers, a significant increase in the number of foreign brands entering Russia, as well as the willingness of owners to negotiate with local brands in order to optimize free space. She also noted that the composition of tenants in shopping centers has changed: there has been a reduction in the number of fashion tenants from 55% to 45% in favor of operators from the service and entertainment sector, fitness centers and catering.

As for street retail, the share of vacant space in the summer of 2023 was 14.3%, which in absolute values ​​is about 113 thousand square meters. m. The expert added that by the end of the year the vacancy rate is expected to be 10-11%. “The main substitution, both in shopping centers and in retail corridors, is taking place profile to profile. The gone store is replaced by another store, and the gone restaurant is replaced by another restaurant. There was no imbalance in product categories, there was no crisis in shopping centers,” Ms. Khakberdieva summed up.

As I wrote Kommersant in August, traffic to shopping centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg continues to slowly increase compared to last year due to the gradual opening of new stores and the reduction of the influence of departed brands on the market. But this does not yet lead to an increase in rental rates: due to the restrained turnover of Russian retailers, there are no prerequisites yet. The cost of large, in-demand street retail premises continues to grow due to high demand: classic street formats – coffee to go and bank branches – are actively developing here.