LeaseWise News
Landlords and COVID so far …
Once the pandemic hit, the Australian Government enacted a series of measures and social distancing restrictions to help the country get through with minimum infections and fatalities. However, the impact on day to life and the economy as a whole was / is devasting. For retailers, the most severe impact was imposed by a mandatory…
Read more...Retail Mall Reality unfolding
Scentre, the owner of the local Westfield mall empire, will not pay a dividend for the first half of 2020, in a move that could be replicated by other hard-hit mall owners. The shopping centre giant cited uncertainty about the pandemic, its duration, the economic impact and the timing of operating cash flows as it…
Read more...Retail landlords face battle over lease terms
The proposed national code is focused on smaller tenants that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus but large tenants are seeking to cut their rental payments during the crisis and dramatically cut back their store footprints once it is over. Shopping centre owners rallied on Tuesday after they eked out concessions in the plan…
Read more...Billionaire landlord stands firm on rents
P A self-made billionaire, who is one of Australia’s biggest private landlords, has defended asking some of his commercial tenants to keep paying rent, saying he should not be made a “scapegoat” for the coronavirus-driven economic crisis if those tenants have been successful. Key points: Billionaire John Van Lieshout has asked business tenants to pay…
Read more...Coronavirus: eviction freeze stuns mall landlords
Property Council of Australia chief executive Ken Morrison says, ‘the risk is landlords get squeezed like lemons with falling rents on one side and obligations to financiers on the other’. Picture: Stuart McEvoyShopping centres have been rocked by the six-month freeze on evictions ordered by Scott Morrison on Sunday night. Mall owners face another wave…
Read more...Government and Shopping Centres cause more harm
Confusion reigns supreme. What is the point of keeping an entire centre open??? Owners need to show leadership and close them down save for the fresh precincts and essential services. The message is so confusing from government. Stay home ! Keep your kids at home ! Oh the shopping centres are open ….. I’m sure…
Read more...Jeanswest gone South………………
We were all informed yesterday that clothing retailer Jeanswest has entered voluntary administration, due to the difficult trading conditions facing the clothing retail market in Australia. LeaseWise have been voicing that the market cannot sustain the amount of retail we have with all of the disruption coming from online competition, occupancy costs, retail saturation, wage…
Read more...Harris Scarfe falls on its own sword for a chance of a brighter future!
What to make of the Harris Scarfe collapse? And is Allegro Funds the victim or the villain? Here’s what we know: the Sydney-based private equity firm took effective control of the troubled Harris Scarfe, along with the Best & Less and Postie chains, on December 2. Just nine days later, Allegro Funds called in Deloitte Restructuring Services…
Read more...Stripping Back Retail
A flickering retail pulse and spiralling vacancy rates spell dangerous times ahead for the classic retail strip store. But is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Not so long ago, Chapel St. and Bridge Rd. were icons of the independent Retail Leasing Agents in Melbourne, but recent years have seen a huge…
Read more...The Irrelevance of Occupancy Cost
Occupancy Cost = Gross Rent/Turnover x 100 Anybody who’s spent any time around the leasing side of retail knows the equation. Invented sometime after the wheel, but somewhat before AirPods, it’s become a cornerstone of retail lease negotiation. The wheel has undergone little change and yet, for now, remains relevant (when will we get those…
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