Indian Retailer

Indian retailers may be rejoicing at better sales in the October-December festive season, but a full recovery of the retail real estate sector still hinges on availability of spaces at competitive rates and improvement in consumption, global consultant C B Richard Ellis has said.

“The retail sector will take some time to fully recover, depending on the economic growth or improvement in domestic consumption , consumer sentiment and availability of retail space at competitive costs,” CB Richard Ellis (South Asia) chairman and managing director Anshuman Magazine said in a statement here on Wednesday.

Improving consumer sentiment and competitive retail rentals had, however, resulted in the sector “ambling towards better activity levels, especially in Tier I cities” , he added.

The global real estate consultancy firm also expects an oversupply of new office spaces across the country, which will keep rentals flat in 2010 despite positive indicators that demand for commercial real estate was improving.

“On the office market front, demand is expected to improve although the rentals are expected to remain flat in the medium term due to the forecasted large supply of office space,” Magazine said.

The year 2010 may, however, see “some sustainability in the residential market as activity levels have improved,” he said.

Prices for residential, retail and commercial real estate across the country plummeted in 2009 as a global economic meltdown and tight liquidity froze demand.

Residential sales declined significantly and demand for office spaces saw a substantial drop, triggering a decline in rentals and postponement or cancellation of projects , while retail real estate was also significantly impacted.

However, each of these three segments have witnessed an improvement since the previous year as reduction in prices, softening of interest rates and an improvement in the economic sentiments led buyers back to the market, the consultancy firm said.