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This paper seeks to explore the relationship between market positioning and rents of retail facilities in Hong Kong.

Regression analysis is deployed in the paper to find out the impact of various attributes, in terms of a retail facility's physical characteristics, market positions, and location, on the annualized per‐area net rental income. The sample data obtained from the initial public offerings of the Link real estate investment trust (REIT), one of the largest REITs in the world, is used for analysis.

The study finds that district centers command the highest average rental levels, followed by local and estate centers. As the effects of positive externalities for unorganized shops are smaller, the average rental levels for shops are generally lower. In terms of the impact of individual attributes on rents, a retail property's age and its efficiency ratio have negative relationships with rents, while its size (in terms of gross floor area) and the amount of shops positively affect the facility's rental levels.

Although obtaining the largest possible dataset in the Link REIT portfolio for the study, the sample is not considered big enough to detect the impact of the location of a retail facility on its rental adjustments. Further studies are required with regard to this issue.

The results of this study give planners and developers of retail facilities some insights about the effects of market positioning on a retail facility's performance on the leasing market.

The unconventional concept of leasing temporary retail space has taken the retailing world by storm in the past decade. In addition to permanent retail space (in‐line stores), many shopping centre management staff have leased temporary retail space as a form of maximizing the net lettable area of the shopping malls, thus hoping to reap better returns for the real estate investors. Using Singapore as the study area, this paper aims to investigate shoppers' perceptions of in‐line stores (permanent retail space) and comparing them to their perceptions of retail carts (temporary retail space) in shopping centres.

To examine shoppers' perceptions of in‐line stores and retail carts, the paper adopts a mixed method sequential design by way of qualitative/quantitative sequence.

In terms of image structures, in‐line stores and retail carts share three common image dimensions, namely, “atmosphere”, “variety of product” and “service quality”. In‐line stores recorded an additional factor, “value”. However, the shoppers displayed better perception ratings towards all retail space attributes and factors of in‐line stores relative to that of the retail carts. In addition, the data also revealed that age of the shoppers has a direct influence on shoppers' perceptions of retail carts and in‐line stores.

The findings not only add to the current retail literature, but will also aid retail industry players in improving their marketing and overall tenant‐mix structures for more successful leasing strategies. This will maximize the usage of retail real estate space that may in turn result in higher returns for real estate investors.

Retail property is an important property investment sector. The purpose of this paper is to assess the importance of retail property type, size and region in Australian retail property and the strategic role of direct retail property and retail listed property trusts (LPTs) in a mixed‐asset portfolio.

This paper analyses the performance of retail property in Australia over 1995‐2005 for both direct and indirect retail property. Risk‐adjusted performance analysis is used to assess the added value of retail property in a mixed‐asset portfolio, with the portfolio diversification benefits of retail property also assessed.

The paper finds that retail property and retail LPTs have delivered substantial risk‐adjusted returns and portfolio diversification benefits over 1995‐2005. The retail property sub‐sectors of retail property type, size and region have different performance characteristics; particularly highlighting the substantial role of geographic diversification as the most effective portfolio diversification strategy for retail property investors. Direct retail property and retail LPTs are also identified as having different performance characteristics and each contributing substantially to an institutional property investment strategy.

Previous retail research has been at an “overall” Australian retail property level. This paper rigorously assesses retail property at a retail sub‐sector level regarding retail property type, size and location. This level of analysis enables more informed and practical investment decision‐making regarding the role of retail property in a mixed‐asset portfolio for both direct and indirect retail property as part of an institutional property investment strategy.

This report aims to examine the sectoral composition of Europe's real estate investment market, the factors likely to drive a shift in portfolio composition away from the office sector and toward retail, and how this will likely occur.

The article examines the sectoral breakdown of Europe's real estate market and describes the shift in the UK's sectoral breakdown over the past two decades. Economic convergence in Europe, the increasing number of third‐party fund managers offering access to the performance of retail assets, the historically superior risk‐adjusted returns of retail in mainland Europe are noted as factors that will drive the shift. Eight mechanisms that could help achieve the shift are described.

Many investors in European real estate are modifying strategy to capitalise on the expected outperformance of the office sector over the short to medium term. However, as the office rental recovery matures and the potential for outperformance diminishes, a substantial, long‐term increase in the portfolio weightings of retail and other property types will likely occur in mainland Europe. Improved asset and fund management infrastructure has made retail assets more accessible to investors. Retail has tended to outperform offices over fairly long time horizons and will likely continue to provide superior risk‐adjusted returns.

Many investors in European real estate have recently been making tactical allocation decisions to benefit from the potential upside offered by offices. This analysis suggests that at a strategic level, investors in mainland European real estate should diversify away from offices (now about half of investors' portfolios) by raising allocations to other sectors.

From the perspective of the macro‐economy and real estate sector interaction, this paper aims to examine the maturing prime retail real estate sector versus the developing suburban retail real estate sector.

This paper adopts a highly specific dynamic computable general equilibrium model under system dynamics programming to structure the resulting system complexity within the context of Singapore.

Ex post and ex ante model estimations find that the suburban retail real estate sector is on the whole more susceptible to gross domestic product (GDP) growth policy that affects both GDP expansion and retail rents in actual and expectation terms as well as returns.

The DCGE model ex ante estimations for the planned scenarios, under low or high GDP growth for the prime and suburban retail real estate sectors, enhances understanding of structural factors and dynamic interaction in the maturation phase of the prime retail real estate sector in Singapore.

In comparison, Singapore's suburban retail real estate sector is found to be in a developing phase.

There is limited local research on the underlying relationship between the economy and the retail real estate sector, although Singapore's retail sector and retail real estate sector form an integral part of sustainable economic expansion.

Transport mode attributes have often been neglected in the retailing and transportation literature in retail outlets choice studies. Most of the retailing and transportation literature has only adopted the traditional measures of deterrence, namely, travel time, distance and/or travel cost. Similar phenomena exist in real estate research, particularly in real estate market analysis and valuation. However, a few studies have shown that other attributes of the travel component, such as comfort, reliability of transport mode, etc., are significant in affecting shopping centres’ patronage. With the heightening of issues such as sustainable development and environmental pollution, many governments are gearing to provide greater choices and better quality public transport modes to shopping centres. Therefore, with more transport options, shoppers are likely to consider the characteristics of each transport option in greater detail in their choice of shopping centres. Therefore, in view of this widespread phenomenon, it is timely to provide greater understanding of the travel components in shopping trips. In the light of the above development, this paper aims to disaggregate the travel components in shopping centre choice. By way of principal component analysis, it presents the salient dimensions of transport attributes and shopping centre characteristics in shopping centre choice. Using the weighted factor rating, it found that, in addition to the shopping centre attributes, as well as the conventional measures of travel components, shoppers consider other travel factors in their choice of shopping centres. This in turn has implications on valuation practices.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Shariah compliant real estate development financing and investment in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

In this paper, the authors employed desk research and survey to examine issues relating to Shariah compliant real estate development financing and investment. Following the desk research, 18 in‐depth interviews were conducted with senior executives of banks, real estate developers and consultants.

Equity Shariah instruments are found to be in high demand by real estate investors, however they are rarely offered by Islamic banks. In addition, the survey results confirm that Islamic financiers tend to partner real estate companies through land acquisition to post construction, contrary to how conventional financiers operate, therefore reducing moral hazard issues.

As Shariah compliant real estate research and knowledge is limited, the authors faced a challenge in getting respondents who are familiar and willing to participate in the interview. Nevertheless, the 18 respondents gave adequate inputs to enable the authors to write the research paper.

The paper includes challenges and implications for the future developments of Shariah compliant real estate development financing and investment.

This paper provides the Shariah compliant perspective of real estate development financing and investment, where the current knowledge is very limited.

This paper aims to address two questions related to the magnetism or drawing power of suburban malls: first, does physical size matter, and second, what is the externalities effect of housing a Cineplex within a shopping center?

The study was carried out through an extensive survey covering 1,283 shoppers in nine selected suburban shopping centers in Singapore. The effects of physical size and the presence of Cineplex on the magnetism on the selected suburban shopping centers are evaluated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests. Their effect on shopping duration and expenditure pattern is also empirically tested using a recursive simultaneous equations model.

The survey results affirm that both physical size and the presence of a Cineplex enhance the magnetism of suburban shopping centers. A larger shopping center can facilitate a greater variety of shops and create a more pleasant environment for the shoppers, thus enticing shoppers to visit and stay longer. Cinema patrons prefer to watch movies at Cineplex located in shopping centers. Controlling for the endogenous relationship between duration of visit and amount spent in the shopping center, the regression results show that, while physical size and Cineplex have a positive effect on the duration of visit, they do not necessarily have a direct effect on the amount spent by the patrons in the shopping center.

One of the main challenges for mall owners and managers located outside the traditional shopping belt is how to attract shoppers to patronize their malls. While the impact of shopping center size on retail rents and center attractiveness has been addressed in the literature, this paper adds some new insights into the field. The focus on whether the presence of a cinema complex within a shopping center affects its magnetism or not is novel.

This paper aims to construct an appropriate automated valuation model to value Housing and Development Board resale flats in Singapore. The paper also aims to test the accuracy of the model by comparing the values generated with actual valuations performed by a property firm in Singapore. In addition, it seeks to examine whether models for the sub‐markets of Housing and Development Board resale flats based on location or type of flat are more “sufficiently accurate” than the general model.

Using transacted data of 1,483 HDB resale flats, a hedonic price model is used to estimate housing price. The variables adopted include floor area of the housing unit, floor level of the housing unit, age, distance from central business district and distance from the mass rapid transit station.

The study found that the general model provides sufficient accuracy when producing valuations. The models based on sub‐markets, namely, “location” and “type of flats” produced reasonable levels of accuracy, although more variables could be added to the “type of flats” model to improve its reliability.

The research is limited to a few locations in Singapore. Future studies can include data from all over the island to provide better coverage.

The automated valuation model could bring time and cost savings, which could result in higher profit margin for property firms. Thus, valuers could spend more time on complex valuations and issues. The model can also be modified to fit other property markets with appropriate characteristics (for example, high volume transactions).

This paper represents an initial attempt to apply the automated valuation model in the valuation of Housing and Development Board resale flats.