The combination of the online trade boom and platforms ecommerceadded to the misgivings that arrived from the US and the pandemic sake made the shopping centers face a particular (and threatening) ‘storm’. There was even talk of “apocalypse of the retail“. That is left behind. Or at least this is suggested by the figures handled by the commercial areas of Spain. In addition to growing in sales and activity, they have become an appetizing candy in the eyes of investors, one that moves hundreds of millions of euros of euros In transactions.
And there is a round data that demonstrates it: 1,000 million.
Complicated years. Pandemia hit enough sectors and business models. And the shopping centers were no exception. Between health restrictions and changes in consumption habits, during the worst years of COVID-19 its managers suffered a collapse in the influx of customers and a collapse in sales. As in other industries, although in the case of large surfaces that scenario was added to another more structural cariz threat: the competition of the ecommerce and platforms such as Aliexpress.
There were those who wondered if the shopping centers would have a future in a world in which trade and entertainment changed promoted by Amazon or Netflix. In the US they even coined the term “apocalypse of the retail“. From there a fear that came to Europe (and Spain) expanded despite the fact that some experts already warned that the sector was here different from the American, with an average density of commercial areas lower than that of the US market.
From ugly duckling to swan. That scenario seems to be behind. The salmon press has been suggesting it for months, but the most forceful test was left a few days ago a chronicle of Five days in which a significant fact is provided: 2025 has started with five operations of sale of shopping centers from Spain to the point of caramel and adding, together, around one billion euros.
The data is interesting for its volume. But also because it shows that, despite the catastrophic scenario that was painted years ago, when there was talk of the “apocalypse of the retail“And the threat of electronic commerce, shopping centers continue to interest investors. As the chronicle of Five days, The data suggests that the old “real estate duckling” will become swan.
What operations are? These five operations on track and in which relevant news is expected during the first half of the year are starred in centers distributed by the country. The Economic newspaper speaks of Mediterranean Space (Cartagena), Corredor Park (Torrejón de Ardoz), 50% of the capital of Madrid Xanadú (Arroyomolinos), Bonaire (Aldaya) and Alcalá Magna (Alcalá de Henares).
Each case has its peculiar, route and actors, but share a common denominator that says a lot from the sector: they all point to draft operations, for high amounts, nine digits. Its sum would in fact around the one billion. And the most curious thing is that the figure does not seem to respond to a specific interest in shopping centers. AECC data shows that in 2024 progress was already made in relevant transfer and investments for more than 900 million.
The key: profitability. It is not surprising that 2025 start with such a scenario. The operations of the shopping centers are moving investment, the sector has managed to grow both in billing and in traffic throughout last year and the appraisals – after the scenario that was lived in 2022 and 2023 – are attractive enough to awaken the Investor appetite. The economic return they aspire is also tempting.
Five days It requires transactions are closing to a profitability between 7 and 8%, which exceeds other assets, such as offices prime or the house for rent. “The market for shopping centers is at an optimal time. Investors are aware that assets offer a ratio between very attractive risk and profitability and we are facing a window of limited opportunity to benefit from these conditions,” said Augusto Lobo Lobo , Capital Director Markets Retail de Jll Spain.
“Again at the radar”. In July the financial firm BNP Paribas Real Estate launched a similar message when talking about Spain. “The shopping centers are again in the radar of investors,” summed up in their July balance after remembering that during “a long period” the activity in the sector retail He had focused on other types of premises, such as commercial miles (high street) or food. The keys to change: good sales and influx figures and “profitability that begin to be attractive.”
Throughout the last months several balances have been published that reflects that the shopping centers have thrown strongly from the sector retailagglutinating a good part of your investment. “In the years before the pandemic it seemed that the segment of physical stores was falling and that the ecommerce I was going to monopolize the sector as a whole. However, it has been shown that the sector retailIt is very resilient and still has a lot to offer, ”says Cristina Macarrón, from Castilana Properties, Five days.
In 2025, with good mouth taste. The shopping centers have started 2025 with a good foot for another reason, beyond the millionaire transactions in the trees: despite the most pessimistic predictions of the “apocalypse of the retail“, In Spain, large surfaces are gaining traffic and billing, a trend that probably also influences investors’ prospects.
The latest data from Cushman & Wakefield show that sales on these surfaces grew 3.5% in 2024, an increase very similar to that recorded in the influx of customers, which was 3.4%. Another positive percentage for the sector is the occupation of commercial spaces, which has reached 95.4% of the GLA, the gross alleged surface. They are good data, especially if one takes into account that in 2023 the sector (commercial centers and parks) had already raised its sales a 9.6% year -on -year, with 52,051 million euros, achieving its historical maximum.
Images | Intu Xanadú and Welovebarcelona.de (Unsplash)
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