Close to 215,000 sqm of retail spaces were delivered in 2023, the highest level during the last 7 years

Developers completed 11 retail projects in 2023, totaling approximately 215,000 sqm, a record level during the past 7 years, with retail parks having a 60 percent 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 sqm 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 sqm GLA being completed. The total retail stock across Romania reached 4.45 million sqm at the end of 2023, 54 percent of it in shopping centers, 40 percent in retail parks and 6 percent in commercial galleries.

Promenada Craiova, an 80,000 sqm GLA project owned by NEPI Rockcastle and Dedeman (53,000 sqm in a shopping center and 27,000 sqm 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 sqm unit developed by AFI Europe and Cosmopolis Plaza of 16,300 sqm GLA located in the Cosmopolis residential project in Bucharest.

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 percent 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 sqm, 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 /sqm /month, while the corresponding figures in secondary cities – Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi and Constanta – remained flat, ranging between € 50-65 /sqm/ month, the same situation being observed in tertiary locations, where levels between € 30-35 /sqm/ month were recorded.