Shopping & Leisure Centres

Despite the opening of Greece's first large shopping centres in 2005 the country still remains under-supplied for out-of-town shopping compared to other European markets. There is strong demand for further centres and there are a number of developments in the pipeline.

The out-of-town retail market is undeveloped compared with other European nations. There are only 2 retail warehouse parks in the whole country. The first factory outlet centre will open in November 2006 at the Athens airport. The expansion of these sectors is facing some resistance from the planning authorities, but there is significant demand from large retail groups and investors for further developments.

In June 2006 HSBC real estate fund purchased a 49% share of The Mall shopping centre for an initial yield of 6.1%. This reflects the high current investor demand for shopping centre and retail parks in Greece. While there are a number of large schemes in the pipeline for Athens there are substantial opportunities for more retail park and shopping centre development in other cities in Greece.

Source: Lambert Smith Hampton