'We need more shopping malls'

You've done the shopping, unwrapped the presents and eaten the turkey. Probably the last thing you want to think about is another trip to the mall. But here's a thought: New Zealand needs more malls. And they need to be even bigger.

A report by Jones Lang LaSalle research manager Justin Kean says that even with the hundreds of millions of dollars being pumped into building malls and expanding existing ones, we are still a long way from reaching a point of oversupply for shopping space.

Kean's report says this country's major metropolitan cities have between 0.51sq m and 0.61sq m of enclosed retail space (malls) per head of population. In Australian cities, the comparable figures are 0.73sq m to 1.2sq m per head of population.

New Zealand follows similar development trends to Australia, but would need to add more than half a million square metres of mall space - equivalent to seven of Westfield's giant St Lukes Mall in Auckland - before reaching Australia's mall space per person.

Christchurch has the country's highest ratio of mall space to population, at 0.61sq m, but is far from being overshopped, according to major industry players.

"For years and years people have been saying that Christchurch is overshopped and it's going to crash, but it just keeps pumping," says Anthony Beverley, head of property for AMP Capital, which owns Christchurch's Northwood Supa Centre as well as the Botany Town Centre, Manukau Supa Centre and Lynnmall in Auckland.

John Widdup, a director of the country's largest mall owner, Westfield NZ, is just as bullish. Westfield recently completed a $90m upgrade of Riccarton Mall, increasing its net lettable area from 28,800sq m to 46,000sq m. Riccarton was the last of the big malls in Christchurch to have a major upgrade, after the refurbishment of competitors such as Northlands, Eastgate and The Palms.

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