The development activity in the retail market remains animated: Close to 215,000 sq. m were delivered in 2023

Developers completed 11 retail projects in 2023, totaling approximately 215,000 sq. m, a record level during the past 7 years, with retail parks having a 60% share, with cities such Bucharest, Craiova, Alba Iulia, Arad, Giurgiu, Vaslui benefiting from such investments. The investment plans for the next 5 years are also consistent, given that more than 500,000 sq. m of retail spaces are currently under construction or in different planning stages, according to data from the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox real estate consultancy company.   Developers will add new retail schemes or major extensions mainly outside Bucharest in cities such Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Sibiu, Pitesti, Bacau or Galati, with Prime Kapital, NEPI Rockcastle and Iulius Group having the strongest pipeline on the short and medium term.   The retail market registered consistent new deliveries in Q4, with projects cumulating 144,000 sq. m GLA being completed. The total retail stock across Romania reached 4.45 million sq. m at the end of 2023, 54% of it in shopping centers, 40% in retail parks and 6% in commercial galleries.   Promenada Craiova, an 80,000 sq m. GLA project owned by NEPI Rockcastle and Dedeman (53,000 sq m. in a shopping center and 27,000 sq m. in a retail park and a Dedeman store) was the largest retail scheme delivered both in Q4 2023 and also in 2023 overall. Moreover, this project is also the largest retail investment made in Romania since 2010 in terms of size. Other schemes finalized in the same quarter were AFI Arad, a 29,000 sq. m unit developed by AFI Europe and Cosmopolis Plaza of 16,300 sq m. GLA located in the Cosmopolis residential project in Bucharest. Romania also continued to be attractive for international retail brands, as new players such as Lefties, Wittchen, Jimmy Key, Kiko or Happy Group opened their first stores in the country in 2023.   Dana Radoveneanu, Head of Retail Agency Cushman & Wakefield Echinox: ”After a period of 3 or 4 years in which the developers’ expansion plans had been almost exclusively focused on retail parks, which had a share of more than 80% of the new supply, located in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants, a shift towards bigger cities was observed in 2023, a trend which will continue going forward, on medium term at least. Retailers are more demanding than ever in regards to the targeted locations for their expansion plans, mainly looking at prime retail destinations. In this context, the new wave of shopping center developments should attract further new retailers in Romania, while also encouraging the existing players to continue expanding their local footprints.”   The Cushman & Wakefield Echinox Retail Agency brokered 26 leasing transactions in 2023, with an area of approximately 30,000 sq. m, in Bucharest and in the main cities across the country, for clients such Somproduct, Mobexpert, Noriel, Jimmy Key or Wittchen.   The prime shopping centers rent in Bucharest stabilized in Q4 2023 to a level of €80-85 /sq. m /month, while the corresponding figures in secondary cities – Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi and Constanta – remained flat, ranging between €50-65 /sq. m/month, the same situation being observed in tertiary locations, where levels between €30-35 /sq. m/month were recorded.