Councils make one in five shopping centre transactions

Local authorities have invested more than £770m in shopping centres since 2016, accounting for one in five acquisitions, new research shows. According to Lambert Smith Hampton’s Fixing our Broken Town Centres report, which surveyed 200 regeneration professionals across the private and public sectors, councils accounted for 12% of all shopping centre investment by value since 2016, which peaked at 16.7% in 2018. UK institutions completed net sales of £1.84bn over the same period, and UK REITs were net sellers of £309m of assets. According to those surveyed, 69% said public-private joint ventures were the preferred method of advancing town centre regeneration. The growth of online shopping was cited as the greatest challenge to town centres (70%), followed by high business rates (69%). More than a quarter (27%) believed national and local planning policy should encourage “town-centre-first” development, with 25% calling for an embargo on out-of-town development. Steve Norris, national head of planning, development and regeneration at Lambert Smith Hampton, said: “Our research shows that local authorities across the UK have become very active buyers of shopping centres as a means of taking back control and accelerating the regeneration of town centres. “With UK institutions and REITs set to further reduce their exposure to retail property, the public sector investment we have seen up to now may just be the tip of the iceberg.” The research was done with Lambert Smith Hampton and Revo. To send feedback, e-mail lucy.alderson@egi.co.uk or tweet @LucyAJourno or @estatesgazette