Here's what local news sources are reporting about retail property in Europe:
• UK retail property transactions dropped by 90 per cent in the third quarter of 2016 year on year to £118 million (€131 million), reports Cushman & Wakefield. “The political and financial volatility following the EU referendum resulted in extremely low shopping centre investment volumes in the last quarter," Barry O’Donnell, head of UK shopping centre investment for Cushman & Wakefield, said. "However, investor confidence is improving with renewed overseas interest coupled with weak sterling and a softening in yields bridging what was a marked gap in seller and buyer expectations during the summer." Shopping Centre
• Westfield Group will focus its $9.5 billion development program on key markets in the US, Britain and Europe to fuel future earnings, including plans to develop up to 10,000 apartments on or around its malls, co-chief executive Steven Lowy said. Lowy said Westfield considered growing in China, India, Indonesia and some other markets, but decided not to enter “for reasons of the ability to understand the market, understanding the risk, political and government control." The Australian
• In Dublin, consumers are spending again at retail parks, helping to drive up occupancy rates. In the city's 14 retail parks, only 4 per cent of space is available, according to BNP Paribas Real Estate. In fact, eight of the parks are fully occupied. The Irish Times
• HB Reavis' Central Europe Real Estate Fund sold the 10,000-square-metre Aupark Piestany, in Piestany, Slovakia, to New Europe Property Investments, for €39.5 million. CCC Shoes, Mango, Orsay and New Yorker are tenants at the centre. Property Magazine International
• Mark Bourgeois will become Hammerson’s managing director of UK and Ireland, with responsibility for its prime retail portfolio. He will also sit on Hammerson's Group Executive Committee. Bourgeois managed Capital & Regional's substantial retail portfolio with responsibility for repositioning high profile retail and leisure destinations across the UK. He is currently president of Revo (formerly the British Council of Shopping Centres) and will step down from that role at the end of his term in office in December. Shopping Centre
• Poland continues to be an important growth market for French hypermarket operator Carrefour. Carrefour Poland opened a new hypermarket in the Galeria Wolomin shopping arcade, in Wolomin, east of Warsaw. European Supermarket Magazine
• Dutch lingerie retailer Lincherie opened a physical store in Amsterdam where customers get in a fitting room with a digital mirror and discover their correct bra size. They can then order the product via tablet for delivery within 48 hours. No merchandise is stocked in the store. Ecommerce News
• Rising business rates might kill some tenants' business, entrepreneurs on some high streets are complaining. The process of deciding which streets will see rate increases and which will not is unfair, they complain. "I don't think it's fair at all. The Government is supposed to be helping smaller businesses," said Hani Omar, a Swansea trader with two ice cream stores. South Wales Evening Post
• The battle over German supermarket chain Kaiser's Tengelmann stores has become a drawn-out affair, with multiple parties bidding for parts of the business. The government and employee unions are also involved in the process. Deutsche Welle
• Struggling Italian luxury brand Cavalli said it would shut "a number" of stores that are not performing well or are in less convenient locations as it seeks to right its finances. Cavalli does expect to start opening new boutiques by mid-2017 with a renewed emphasis on its menswear and accessories merchandise. Reuters
• Sales increased by 11.2 per cent during the past fiscal year at Danish retailer JYSK, which opened 69 stores during the period, bringing its total to 1,086 stores. The chain operates in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Greece and China. Retail Detail
• Footfall in Spanish shopping centres sharply declined when the July sales season ended. Retailer sales in the country declined 5.3 per cent between August and September, compared to July, when the sales season ended, reports lainformacion.com. European Supermarket Magazine