Mumbai, Ahmedabad see steepest fall in mall rentals

AHMEDABAD: Once buzzing with a lot of business activity, shopping malls too are feeling the pinch of the slowdown. While mall rentals in retail hotspots like Mumbai and Ahmedabad have seen a correction of 36-42%, other shopping destinations like Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata and the NCR saw a drastic dip since January 2009.

The mall and main street rentals fell as much as 42% in Mumbai and 25% in the NCR in the January-March quarter, compared to preced-ing quarter, according to a report by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield. Ahmedabad saw corrections in the range of 20-36% over the last quarter.

In the past one year, mall rentals in Ahmedabad alone have corrected by a whopping 33-55%. The correction in rental points to a waning retail sector in Ahmedabad. Be it stores of Indiabulls Retail, Spencer���s Retail or Subhiksha, the retail biggies have either shut shop (completely or partially) or have shrunk in size.

In Mumbai, main-street locations also saw rental correction with Colaba Causeway recording the highest correction of 38%.

Hyderabad recorded one of the highest mall rental corrections of 25-29% due to restrained demand from retailers. Main-street rentals also saw corrections in the range of 5-20%, largely due to renegotiations and restrictive demand.

In Kolkata, the Theatre Road and Elgin Road, two prominent street markets of the city, registered 10% correction on the account of exit of some prominent retailers. In Pune, the Bund Garden Road witnessed the steepest correction of 25%. MG Road remained stable on account of lack of supply.