ACT retailing in trouble

shaneb said :

There seems to be a popular perception that there is excess retail space in Canberra. There isn’t, especially in regard to spaces that aren’t sub 100 sqm stores and in shopping malls.

You can expect to pay at least $350 per sqm per year for most retail space, which makes the ACT one of the most expensive markets in the country.

Just because it’s expensive doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a shortage, especially when there are large landlords who control non-trivial proportions of the market (ie: the owners of shopping centres, both large and small) – particularly if you consider various areas of Canberra to be at least partially separate markets.

I’m not saying that it’s a terrible monopolistic farce and that the ACCC needs to be
called in though, simply that it would be extremely naive to believe that the market for retail space is perfectly competitive and that ‘high’ prices mean there couldn’t possibly be any non-frictional vacancies.

There seems to be a popular perception that there is excess retail space in Canberra. There isn’t, especially in regard to spaces that aren’t sub 100 sqm stores and in shopping malls.

You can expect to pay at least $350 per sqm per year for most retail space, which makes the ACT one of the most expensive markets in the country.

maybe excess retail space can be converted to affordable housing.