Retail development will not begin again until 2013 at the earliest, according to the first Estates Gazette/Multi Development retail sentiment survey.
More than 70% of 200 respondents to the survey said they did not expect to see development in the retail sector within the next two years. However, close to 40% said they expected the main source of shopping space to come from the redevelopment and extension of existing projects.
More than half of those surveyed said retailers did not need new space.
Respondents were fairly evenly split on whether the market had improved in the first quarter when compared with Q4 2010. Some 42.8% said it had remained the same, while 36.1% believed market conditions had deteriorated.
The survey will be repeated anothered three times this year.
See p100 of this week’s Estates Gazette for more.
noella.pio.kivlehan@estatesgazette.com
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