EHI study ‘Focus on Centre Management 2026’ in cooperation with GCSP

Shopping centres are important places for many people to shop, get supplies and spend time in their everyday lives, but at the same time, competition in this sector is becoming noticeably fiercer. Numerous centre management teams are responding to this with strategic measures to ensure the long-term success of their locations. Rental volumes have stabilised in many shopping centres over the past two years. Rental income has fallen in one in three centres. Increased rental income is often due to index increases in current leases or the successful letting of previously vacant properties. The main reasons for the decline in rental income are re-letting at lower rents and rent reductions on existing contracts. These are some of the findings of the study ‘Center Management in Focus 2026’ by EHI in cooperation with GCSP.

“The improved stability of the industry is the result of diverse and targeted measures. Rent adjustments serve as an operational tool for reducing vacancies, but they are no substitute for long-term conceptual adjustments,” explains Lena Knopf, head of the Retail Real Estate & Expansion research department at EHI and author of the study.

Rental income

Compared to the survey conducted two years ago, the development of rental volume has stabilised. Overall, rental volume has actually increased in 34 per cent of centres. However, rental volume has remained stable (33 per cent) or declined (34 per cent) in roughly equal proportions. In 2024, rental volume had increased in only 17 per cent of centres and declined in 58 per cent of centres.

Services

A central range of basic services, which is taken over and managed for the entire retail property, is a fundamental feature of shopping centres. Some services are offered less frequently than two years ago; in particular, information points are now only found in 30 per cent of the centres surveyed. That is 21 percentage points less than in 2024. In addition, disinfectant dispensers (-20 percentage points), centre apps and digital loyalty cards (-15 percentage points), free Wi-Fi (-14 percentage points) and centre vouchers (-12 percentage points) are less common. Other services, on the other hand, are gaining in importance. Parcel stations are more common (+12 percentage points), as are e-charging stations (+10 percentage points)

Mixed use

One in five centres (20 per cent) plans to reduce their retail space and instead expand the area for mixed use. This figure is very similar to the 2024 survey, when 23 per cent planned this measure. However, 71 per cent do not plan to reduce their retail space in favour of mixed-use, and 9 per cent have already reduced their sales areas in the past five years. The most common non-retail sectors in centres are offices (56 per cent), healthcare (49 per cent) and leisure facilities (39 per cent).

Vacancy

The vacancy situation appears to be slowly stabilising – partly due to adjusted leasing strategies and partly due to adjustments in the amount of retail rental space. Before the pandemic, low vacancy rates were much more common than they are now. The distribution of vacancies is now approaching a 50-50 line – around half of all centres (53 per cent) have vacancies of up to 5 per cent of their retail rental space, while around half (47 per cent) have vacancies of more than 5 per cent of their retail rental space.

The white paper is available for download free of charge. https://www.ehi.org/produkt/whitepaper-centermanagement-2026-pdf/