Odessa - great place in Ukraine for retail real estate property

Today Odessa has 7 shopping centres with K70 sq.m. total space approximately. Only during the last 2 years there was launched 40 sq. m. But demand for commercial property (and for retail real estate particularly) is still extremely high.

According the market research, Odessa retail market could absorb K60-70 sq.m. every year, at least. And this situation will be actual within 5-7 years. Some sources reporting that until 2008 the total usable retail space in Odessa will increase up to K195 sq.m. and total space of shopping centres reach K290 sq.m.

Some well-know Ukrainian developers are going to start operation in South of Ukraine. XXI Century Investments plans to build megamall with total space with K35 sq.m. And there is some buzz about new Karavan Megastore with.

So, why is Odessa so attractive for retail companies? There is one of the highest average single purchase amount – $15-18. So this figure testifies that buyers are ready to spend money and retail property should be pretty profitable.

Development cost for 1 sq.m average is $700-1000. And if the average rent rate within Ukraine (excluding Kiev, for sure) is 20-80 sq.m/month, but the similar rent rent in Odessa range 30-150 sq.m/month. Vacancy rate is one of the lowest in Ukraine and set up to 2-3%.

Main existing Odessa shopping centres

Name	Total/rentable sq.m.	Year
"7 Ya"	16 000/ 9000	2003
"Afina"	19 000/ 9000	2004
"Europe"	8600/ 8000	2005
"MegaAntoshka"	3600/ 2000	2005
"Srednefontanskiy”	25 500 /19 000	2005
"Natalka-City"	17 000/ 12 000	2006
«Vuzovskiy»	14 400/ 12 720	2004