Belfast city-centre is booming, with rents for prime retail spaces expected to reach record levels next year.
A report released by the Department of Finance and Personnel also showed that investors in the retail property market were getting returns of more than twice the average figure recorded across the UK.
Launching the Belfast Retail Market Report 2002, Dr Seán Farren, Minister of Finance and Personnel, said the property investment market was attracting many of the major UK and Irish investors and outperforming other key retail centres in Britain.
"What this report shows is that Belfast is now ahead of some of the major important retail centres in the UK such as Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester and Bristol with total returns in 2001 achieving 8.1 per cent against a UK average of 3.9 per cent."
The report, produced by the Valuation and Lands Agency within the Department, charts a period of sustained growth in the Belfast retail market since the recession in the early 1990s. The index of retail rental growth showed a 5 per cent increase during the year to November 2001, compared with a rise of 1.6 per cent for high street shops across the UK.
Rental growth has been strong in Royal Avenue and Castlecourt Shopping Centre, but the premium pitch in the city centre continues to be Donegall Place where the redevelopment of the former C&A site provided a catalyst for growth. Recently, the WH Smith chain established its first outlet in Northern Ireland on the site.
The chief executive of Investment Belfast, Mr Brendan Mullan, said the report provided independent confirmation of the investment in the retail sector and the high levels of consumer confidence in Belfast. "It underlines all the things we have been saying recently, and what is exciting are the two major developments in the pipeline including the extension to Castlecourt and the development of the Victoria Square centre," he said.
Mr Keith Shiells, chief executive of property investment company Lambert Smith Hampton, described the report as "good news" for the city. "After coming under attack from out of town developments in the past, it is good to see the city centre getting its act together again it is coming back strong," he said.
