Vancouver malls a potent commercial real estate investment
Ephraim Vecina
REP
In its latest report, the Retail Council of Canada announced that Vancouver plays host to some of the country’s best performing malls in terms of sales revenue.
As of the year ending August 31, 2016, Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre was the second most productive mall in Canada, earning $1,537 per square foot. Meanwhile, the CF Pacific Centre ranked third nationwide with $1,523 per square foot.
Four other malls in British Columbia qualified for the Council’s list of 30 most profitable malls in the country, Business in Vancouver reported. Coming in at number 8 is Metropolis at Metrotown ($1,035 per square foot), while the 13th slot was occupied by CF Richmond Centre ($928 per square foot).
Guildford Town Centre ranked number 21 ($844 per square foot), and Coquitlam Centre came in at number 27 ($785 per square foot).
The Council’s study found that the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto had the greatest sales per square foot last year at $1,650.85. The overall revenue-to-space ratio in Canada’s malls stood at an average of $744, up from $733 in 2015.
A leading driver for this strong performance in Canadian commercial real estate is the far lower per-capita mall space compared to other major economies like the United States. Also, higher product costs due to taxes and duties help Canadian malls earn more, the Council explained.
Supermarket-anchored malls “are an incredibly defensive industry, and if there’s a recession looming around the corner, then you can bet that people will still be heading to their local supermarket to get a week’s supply of groceries,” The Motley Fool Canada explained in a recent analysis. “People still have to eat, and this will never change, even during the harshest of recessions.”
Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd