'Shopping centre valuations are 30-40% too high'
External valuations of retail properties are unreliable. Our models indicate considerably lower prices and therefore much higher debt ratios, says real estate specialist of Egbert Nijmeijer of Kempen Capital Management.
Retail property has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Nevertheless, external surveyors were remarkably lenient in their half-yearly valuations. For example, for Eurocommercial Properties and Klépierre, which operate comparable medium-sized shopping centres in Europe, the downward revaluation was limited to just under 3%.