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Real estate: Modern commercial retail property estimated at 2.31 million sqm in second quarter in Romania
The modern commercial retail property in Romania in the second quarter of 2012 is estimated at 2.31 million square metres, according to Bucharest City Report, conducted by Jones Lang LaSalle company.
The property in Bucharest is estimated at about 775,000 square metres and witnessed no modification compared to the first three months of the year. In the second quarter however, it is expected that five to seven retail centres are finished in Romania, amounting to 130,000 square metres. Most of the developing projects are at a small scale, a hypermarket in most cases. The most important opening to take place in the second part of the year should be Ploiesti Shopping City, the first modern shopping centre in Ploiesti.
Over the first five months of the year, the sales from retail reported a 4.6 percent increase on a year-on-year basis.
'This increase together with the fact that 41 percent of the total expenses from consumption of the Romanian people go to agricultural and food products, explains the expansion of retailers in the food sector. The clothes retailers became wary about expanding their retail chains and focus on their upgrade mostly. It is worth mentioning that the Polish retailer CCC entered the market in the second quarter of 2012, who opened their first store in the shopping gallery Feeria in Bucharest, and announced they intend to reach 15 stores in their first year,' says the report conducted by Jones Lang LaSalle company.
330,000 square metres of commercial retail property are being under construction at the moment, scheduled to be ready in the second half of 2012. The investment fund Immofinanz have recently announced they want to turn the Armonia Arad shopping centre in a logistic park. It is the second time a shopping centre gets closed in Romania after Armonia Braila (both developed by RED), but Jones Lang LaSalle expects another shopping centre to get closed by the end of the year.