In Russia, every second shopping center may go bankrupt, Izvestia writes with reference to participants in the retail real estate market.
According to Avito Nedvizhimost, since the beginning of the year, the number of shopping centers with an area of 10,000 m² or more offered for sale has increased by about 14%. Now about 200 buildings are put up for sale throughout Russia. The manager of the Russian Council of Shopping Centers, Oleg Voitsekhovsky, believes that another 70-100 objects may soon be added to them.
Interlocutors of Izvestia claim that every second shopping center is at risk due to high competition, declining income and debt load. As a rule, their owners take loans to start a business, and then pay them off over a long period of time.
St. Petersburg is the leader in terms of the number of shopping centers put up for sale. Over the past year, it has grown by about 50% there, said Oleg Izotov, head of the Avito Nedvizhimost commercial real estate category. Shopping centers are also being actively sold in other cities, including in the regions. Prices for them vary from 1 billion rubles to 8.3 billion rubles.
Most often, shopping centers face problems due to blunders in the concept and management, as well as high competition in the location. Influenced their position and the departure of foreign brands from Russia. According to the consulting company Nikoliers, up to 30% of foreign retailers have left or suspended their business. The interlocutors of Izvestia note that when the threshold of 30% of the empty areas of the shopping center is crossed, the shopping center begins to “slide into bankruptcy”.
Evgenia Khakberdeva, Director of the Retail Real Estate Department at NF Group , claims that due to the closure of stores, shopping center attendance may be 30% lower than in the pandemic year 2021 and 40% lower than before the pandemic.