Mall Vacancy Dips to 14.47 Per Cent of Total Area in April-June: Report

New Delhi: Mall vacancy levels across top eight cities in the country have marginally declined to 14.47 per cent of total space available in the quarter ended June 2014, according to a report by global property consultant Cushman & Wakefield.

Overall vacancy levels in malls in the eight cities during April-June quarter of 2013 were at 15.04 per cent of the total space available at that time, according to the report.

While comparing it on a quarter-to-quarter basis, overall vacancy in the quarter ended June 2014 was stagnant and recorded around 0.4 percentage points lower compared to 14.51 in the first quarter of 2014.

The report covers eight cities and regions including Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderbad and the National Capital Region (NCR).

During the period under review, the maximum decline in vacancy of mall area was witnessed in Bengaluru (4.85 percentage point to 7.10).

The maximum increase in vacancy levels of malls was in Hyderabad (6.82 percentage points to 8.22 per cent).

"The retail and retail real estate markets are still going through a period of uncertainty. Currently, we are witnessing stagnation in the demand-supply dynamics as mall supply is being deferred and existing vacancies remain more or less stable," Cushman & Wakefield South Asia executive managing director Sanjay Dutt said.

Mr Dutt, however, added that after successful listings, real estate investment trusts (REITs) for commercial properties would potentially open up for shopping centre portfolio listings, giving much needed exit route to the developers and investors.