A research produced by
Global shopping centre development continues apace, with unprecedented levels of construction and new openings taking place. 9.8 million sq m of new space opened in 2013 in the 180 cities in our survey, compared with 7.3 million sq m in 2012. A further 39 million sq m is under construction with eight out of the top 10 most active cities globally contained within the borders of China. All of the BRIC countries and other emerging markets such as Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur (Klang Valley), Moscow, Abu Dhabi, Kiev, Cebu in the Philippines and Monterrey in Mexico are also highly active. The huge scale of the global development pipeline is due to a growing a middle class population in emerging markets, the urbanisation of large cities and a lack of high quality retail space of the type demanded by cross-border retailers. In contrast, the level of shopping centre construction in the mature markets of Western Europe and U.S. remains at an historic low.
Source : CBRE
