CBRE: Retail Market in Q2 Still 19% Below Baseline, But Expects to Slowly Recover

• 10 July 2020
• Local News
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The retail market in Cambodia as of June 2020 is still 19% below baseline but is expected to slowly recover in particular during the second half of 2020, according to CBRE Cambodia Market View Report published on 07 July.

According to Google Mobility Tracker, the retail market was 45% below the baseline in early April, then slowly improved to -22% in mid-May, and -19% by the end of June. This progress indicates a gradual increase in consumers’ confidence which is a positive sign for the market recovery, says the report.

Though the market has been below the baseline for the past two quarters, the vacancy rate in Q2 2020 is at 10.2%, only a 0.1% increase compared to the same period in 2019. The report also predicts that retail activity will rebound in the second half of this year, and the number of footfalls will also increase since people have started going out and shopping.

Supply has also increased due to the launch of a new community mall, Khalandale Mall, which added about 3.71% to the total retail stock and 24% to the existing community mall stock. The market is expected to see 87,000 square metres of new supply by the end of 2020.

Rental rates in Q2 also saw a moderate decline; an 11.7% drop for prime shopping, a 3% decrease in prime retail podiums, and 1% for prime high streets. However, the rental rate for community malls surprisingly rose by 2% despite the drop in the first quarter of 2020.

According to the report, online retailing has been doing very well during the pandemic period and is expected to continue or become more significant in the long term.

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