China retail malls

China retail malls: Bloomberg notes, Chinese landlords are forgoing rent and paying to outfit stores for mass-market fashion brands in a bid to blunt the impact of a boom in shopping-mall construction that threatens to push up vacancies. Preferential leasing terms were reserved until recently for luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci, which are coveted because they bring shoppers into malls. Now moderately priced labels such as Zara and H&M are being enticed with offers as landlords work harder to fill shops, according to Cushman & Wakefield and RET Property Consultancy. Half of the 32m sm of shopping centers under construction around the world are in China, according to CBRE Group. About two-thirds of that is expected to be completed by next year, a 38% surge in supply. Developers of some new malls may struggle to reach even 70% occupancy, forcing delays in opening, said Beijing-based RET Property Consultancy. CapitaMalls Asia has 49 shopping centers in China. The malls in China had a “committed” occupancy rate of more than 96% as of Mar 31. The company does not offer incentives to retailers to open in its malls because it can leverage its network of more than 102 shopping centers and 13,000 leases in Asia. PCRT’s portfolio comprises a furniture mall and integrated development in Shenyang. It has a pipeline of new malls in Foshan, Chengdu and Beijing scheduled to commence operations over 3Q13 to FY16.