Shopping centre vacancy rates drop for third quarter in a row

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jan 28, 2016

Shopping centres across the UK saw vacancy rates drop for a third consecutive quarter in a row at the three months to December 2015. The final quarter of the year recorded a fall of 0.8% year-on-year, following a drop by the same percentage in Q3 and a 1.4% slide in the second quarter.

According to an index by the British Council of Shopping Centres and the Local Data Ccompany, England and Scotland were the best performing nations with a 0.9% and a 1.1% drop in unoccupied shops. Meanwhile, there was no change for Welsh shopping centres, and Yorkshire and The Humber saw the largest drops (1.6% and 1.5% respectively).

At the end of the year there was also a drop in the overall number of units, compared with the third quarter of 2015, reflecting the landlords’ readiness to adapt and merge units to attract bigger brands. Meanwhile, the proportion of multiple retailers in shopping centres across the UK increased by 1.5%, showing increasing competition for space.

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Edward Cooke, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, BCSC, commented: “Declining vacancy rates over three consecutive quarters in 2015 indicates a longer term trend of strong consumer confidence which we predict will continue into 2016.” 

Matthew Hopkinson, Director of The Local Data Company, commented: "The latest LDC/BCSC shopping centre index numbers show a positive outlook for shopping centres in one of the most important quarters for retailers in the year. The number of quality shopping centres has grown as a result of investment and strong retailer demand off the back of low inflation and improving consumer confidence.”