Time to go shopping for retail assets

Retail real estate has faced a tough period, buffeted by the rise of e-commerce, extensive oversupply and the impacts of the pandemic on in-store shopping. But we think the sector is well down the road to dealing with those challenges and now offers a degree of stability, providing landlords manage assets proactively as the retail and leisure environment continues to develop. As a result, we think retail currently offers a combination of steady rises in net operating incomes over the coming years and reasonably attractive valuations. This makes it our best performing sector over the five-year forecast and, importantly, means it should be back on investors’ radars.