These segments drove Q4 retail leasing activity in Mumbai 

Around 68,000 sq ft of leasing activity was recorded during the quarter.

Quarterly mall leasing volumes in Mumbai maintained momentum into the fourth quarter of 2022 on the back of resurgent consumer demand, rising footfalls and festive season-driven retail activity. 

According to Cushman and Wakefield, fast Fashion and F&B continued to drive leasing activity in the city’s malls during the quarter, similar to the trends witnessed in previous quarters. During Q4-22, Around 68,000 sf of leasing activity was recorded across organised retail space, including renewals done by existing brands. 

Here’s more from Cushman and Wakefield:

For the whole year, leasing activity in malls was driven by premium Fast Fashion, Apparel and Accessories category brands. The city-level mall vacancy increased by 31 bps to 9.21% in Q4 as compared to the previous quarter, largely in the average-grade malls. Superior category malls continue to enjoy tight vacancy levels (less than a percent). 

In terms of new supply, an additional 50,000 sq ft got operational at Phoenix Palladium in Q4 with new stores added by premium fashion & apparel retailers. Besides that, no new supply was added to the city’s mall inventory during this quarter and there were no supply additions in 2022. 

F&B and Lifestyle drive main street leasing activity in 2022 Prominent main streets in Mumbai witnessed good leasing activity during the quarter with close to 50,000 sf of store openings recorded. This quarter witnessed a few F&B and Fashion category stores openings in prime suburban locations like BKC, Khar, Bandra and Thane, CBD Belapur and Andheri Lokhandwala locations.

High streets such as Cuffe Parade, Kemps Corner and Lower Parel witnessed premium F&B brands making their presence in Q4. Overall, in the year 2022, the F & B and Lifestyle segment drove retail space leasing across prominent main streets. 

Mall and main street rentals remained stable during the quarter 

City-wide average mall and main street rentals remained largely stable on a q-o-q basis, but superior malls have seen a 5-10% rise in rentals on a y-oy basis. Prominent main streets have also witnessed rental appreciation during the year on the back of robust increase in footfalls and demand for quality space. 

With the low vacancies across superior retail malls and limited new retail supply, mall rental values are further expected to see growth with improvement in overall retail consumer sentiment.