Mall retail leasing slumps 38% in Q3 as high-street spaces surge

Gross leasing of retail space in shopping malls plummeted 38 per cent to 0.71 million square feet during July-September, hampered by limited supply across Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad, data from Cushman & Wakefield showed.

In contrast, retail leasing on high-street locations rebounded strongly, rising 33 per cent to 1.51 million square feet in the third quarter. The shift reflects a clear preference among retailers for traditional street-level locations over enclosed mall spaces, at least in the current quarter.

Combined leasing across both shopping malls and high-street locations declined marginally by nearly 5 per cent to 2.22 million square feet in the September quarter, compared with 2.33 million square feet in the corresponding period a year earlier. High-street retail accounted for 68 per cent of total gross leasing activity, while shopping malls represented 32 per cent of the overall market.

The data underscores a structural shift in India's retail landscape, with merchants increasingly gravitating towards high-street locations despite the continued importance of mall-based retail. Supply constraints in the mall segment have further accelerated this transition.