Turkey is one of the bright spots for the European retail property sector, according to Boris van Haare Heijmeijer, partner retail services at adviser Cushman & Wakefield. 'The demographic and economic growth figures are good, also in the longer term. Turkey has a young and dynamic population. And while economic growth may be falling from the recent levels of 6-7%, it is still around 3%.'
Turkey is one of the bright spots for the European retail property sector, according to Boris van Haare Heijmeijer, partner retail services at adviser Cushman & Wakefield. 'The demographic and economic growth figures are good, also in the longer term. Turkey has a young and dynamic population. And while economic growth may be falling from the recent levels of 6-7%, it is still around 3%.'
Speaking during a panel discussion on Turkey at the Mapic retail fair in Cannes last week, Van Haare Heijmeijer pointed out that Turkey is still underserviced when it comes to shopping centres. 'In Europe, there is 200 m2 of shopping centre space per every 1,000 inhabitants. In Turkey, that figure is 52 m2 per 1,000 inhabitants.'
Within Turkey, there are regional differences, however. Ankara currently has the highest density of shopping centres, with 148 m2 per 1,000 inhabitants, followed by Istanbul with 122 m2. In total, the country has 197 shopping centres with a surface area of 4.8 mln m2 while another 157 are in the pipeline. 'There is a lot of untapped demand in the country, particularly in the secondary and some tertiary cities,' said Erman Llicak, president of Renaissance Development Turkey. 'There are a number of cities that have 400,000 inhabitants and no shopping centres at all.'
Nevertheless, there are signs of saturation in Istanbul and Ankara and the country also faces a number of 'major' challenges, Van Haare Heijmeijer noted. 'Land prices are really high, and planning and zoning is an issue. Another problem is the current lira-dollar rate.'
