How shopping centres have become a buyers' market

RETAIL landlords will want to forget the last three years. The pandemic was a traumatic time when vast R amounts were slashed off property values, lockdowns left thousands of tenants unable to pay rent and tumbleweed High Streets were deserted for months on end as consumers embraced online shopping on a scale never seen before. It has been a nightmare for so many businesses.

- Joanna Hodgson

But those falls in value means it is now an attractive time for some investors to start buying again in the sector just as sentiment is picking up amid rising footfall and new store openings.

Last month Frasers Group - owner of retailers Sports Direct and Jack Wills, both better known for leasing shops rather than owning them - took the unexpected step of snapping up two shopping centres, including a £58 million swoop for a 900,000sq ft site in Luton home to chains such as New Look, Pandora and TK Maxx, as well as a Sports Direct branch. The firm's head of real estate said at the time: "We continue to have confidence in the future of the UK High Street and remain committed to investing in sites which display huge potential."