Os lo dijeeeeeeeee, que esto está tomando un color negro guano muy rápidamente. La ostia de Suecia va a ser HISTORICA.
Signos de desesperación, los locales están vacíos
Right now, a record number of shop premises are gaping empty in large parts of the country. At the same time, there is a market change where former stores are rented out to offices and restaurants. "I have never seen anything like this before", says Peter Bergström, CEO of the property and premises rental site Objektvision.
Stockholm, which used to be so hot, is starting to have many empty premises. Shop premises in particular lack new tenants in many places.
In one year, the supply of vacant shop space has increased by 26 percent in Stockholm, and it is especially the larger shops with areas over 300 square meters that, according to an analysis from the property and premises rental site, Objektvision, are no longer so sought after.
A particular shock wave went through the real estate industry when even a so-called "triple A" location on Hamngatan lost its major tenant. The clothing chain H&M has left the corner property opposite the Mall "Galerian" since last spring.
When shop windows are also taped up in new shopping malls, such as Mood in central Stockholm, the property owners find it increasingly difficult to maintain the mix of stores that would previously attract everyone. After a while, new businesses usually appear, but it is no longer the store mix that was seen as optimal.
- Typically, there will be more restaurants and service when, for example, the clothing stores move out. An example is Nacka Forum, where the clothing chain Zara has left and the gym chain Sats has moved in instead, says Peter Bergström, CEO of Objektvision.
There are signs of desperation to get some retail space leased. Peter Bergström points out that some shopping streets are being legalized when the property owners can no longer find enough paying businessmen in street level.
At property advisor Colliers, Karin Witalis is head of analysis. She paints a dark situation for retail premises in a new report. According to her, during the pandemic, after all, a certain balance between supply and demand was seen - e-commerce took over more and more, but went reasonably hand in hand with physical trade.
But now the situation is at risk of completely changing because households are affected by dramatically higher costs for accommodation, food, fuel, electricity and more. Many are forced to change their buying habits in order to afford the basics.
According to her, the declining consumption means new tests for the real estate companies that own many retail properties.
The interest in investing in Swedish commercial properties is currently quite low, except in the case of food and discount stores.
Patrik Wedin, landlord at the agency KWPA with real estate clients in Stockholm's inner city, confirms that the supply is greater than in a long time.
But we must remember how we have had it. In Stockholm, vacancies on premises were so low that rents rose a lot. Now things have tilted a little in the market, gone in the other direction. It is probably good for rents that Stockholm gets a more normal vacancy rate.
Just like Objektvision's Peter Bergström, landlord Patrik Wedin sees that the office conversion of former shop premises is taking off in earnest. When specialized retailers shut down or redirect their operations towards more e-commerce, it is often office operations that take over, as well as service establishments and coffee shops.
The pandemic also saw some short trends that I think are over. Some paddling halls will soon disappear.
According to the nationwide market analysis from Objektvision, searches for vacant shop premises decreased by 20 percent in August throughout the country.
The retail space that is advertised has increased by 26 percent in both Stockholm and Malmö, and by 11 percent outside the big cities. However, Gothenburg has had a declining supply, 11 percent less vacant shop space in August this year compared to the same time the year before - something that is possibly explained by the fact that the economy in western Sweden was particularly hot, until recently.
According to Statistics Norway, it is particularly the non-durable goods trade that has collapsed, down a whopping 9 percent in August this year compared to August 2021. At the same time, the sales volume in the daily goods trade was unchanged.
