Africa’s retail market anticipates 223 new malls by 2018

The last may not have been seen from the seeming retail revolution in some countries in Africa, particularly Nigeria, as a report from Sagaci Research reveals that 223 new shopping centres are expected to be opened on the continent by 2018.

Forty malls are billed for Egypt, 25 in Nigeria, 20 in Kenya, 15 in Ghana, 14 in Angola and 13 in Morocco and, according to the research group which is a market intelligence firm dedicated to African markets, the total surface area by 2018 would reach 10 million square metres.

The latest Shop Africa 2016 report has ranked Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, as the leading shopping mall developer in sub-Saharan Africa. According to a survey by real estate consultancy firm, Knight Frank, Nigeria was ranked third, while Angola was second, followed by Tanzania and Mozambique.

While Nigeria currently has over 100,000 square meters of leasable area in modern format shopping centers and will be adding another 180,000 square meters of retail space by 2016, Nairobi alone has a mall space of 391,000 square metres.

Real Estate Information Centre report, which is powered by Pison Housing Company, lists top five cities as Luanda in Angola, which is second, Lagos in Nigeria has the third largest mall pipeline, and then Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and finally Maputo in Mozambique completes the top five hotspots for mall space development in sub-Saharan Africa. The report said that these five cities were large, fast growing in economies, seen rapid expansion and being targeted by investors in Africa.

The Shop Africa 2016 report, which is the first review of the retail market in sub- Saharan Africa, revealed that Nairobi was the top city with the largest shopping centre development with approximately 470,000 square metres of shopping centre space in the pipeline.

“Private investors have adopted wait and see position due to unclear policy direction,” he said. Besides, he said clamp down on corruption and money laundering means new money going into real estate would reduce. The nation’s real estate market was valued at N6.4 trillion ($41.2 billion) in 2015, according to a report by Agusto & Co.

Currently, Lagos and Abuja have about 10 commercial and office complexes, totaling over N100 billion, that are due for completion this year. Ongoing projects scheduled for delivery in 2016 are Madina Tower, The Wings Tower, Eden Heights, Alliance Place, Maryland Mall, Heritage Place in Lagos, Abuja World Trade Centre, Abeokuta Mall and Benin Mall.

In Nigeria, construction of shopping malls has increased tremendously while there is a decrease in mall construction in South Africa, a report by Broll Property has received. The report further states that the West African oil producing country has more than 100,000 square meters of leasable area in modern-format shopping centers with a population of over 170 million people will be adding another 180,000 square meters of retail space by the end of this year.

Over the years, Nigeria has lagged behind on the trend of developing shopping mall as experienced in other countries; the nation has just a few recognized shopping centers each with more than 10,000 square meters of leasable space, however, there is a kind of change that is being perceived now where several large malls are under construction.

A US$50 million shopping mall in Nigeria was commissioned in Ikeja, Lagos, after the local government settled a dispute with residents over the relocation of an open air market. Another US$68m mall project is underway and is expected to open during the third quarter of 2017.

CHUKA UROKO