As at the end of June 2015, the index tracked 95 shopping centres with a combined gross lettable area of 4.1 million square meters. The index takes into account centres varying in size from 100,000sqm+ (super regional) to smaller community & neighbourhood type centres.

The 6.5% year-on-year increase in trading density reported for the quarter was driven by a 4.9% y/y increase in spend per head and a 1.7% y/y improvement in footfall.

Trading performance across the different retail formats continues to vary as the challenging macroeconomic environment weighs on disposable income and consumer behaviour.

A specific take-out from the index relating to this is the performance of larger, nodally dominant centres compared to smaller, convenience-oriented centres.

For the year to June 2015, regional centres outperformed the other retail centre types by growing trading density by 7.2% y/y. During this time, Neighbourhood centres (centres with gross lettable area of 5k-12k sqm) lagged in growing sales by 3.5% y/y.

The increase in domestic administered prices such as rates & taxes and electricity continues to weigh on tenant occupancy cost. For the year ending June 2015, tenant’s occupancy costs (gross rental as a % of sales) on an aggregate level weakened marginally from a year before. This implies that gross rentals grew at a faster rate than sales over the period.