Ludwigsburg, Troisdorf top list of smaller towns for retail prospects

Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg and Troisdorf in North-Rhine Westphalia are the mid-sized German towns that came out on top in the annual GMA City Ranking Retail 2017 published recently by geomarketing and location market research consultants GMA.

The study ranks mid-sized towns in terms of their attractiveness for investors, project developers and retailers, along with gastronomy providers. Nine of the top 20 locations identified by the latest ranking are in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

GMA (Gesellschaft für Markt- und Absatzforschung mbH) analysed 209 German towns with populations of between 40,000 and 120,000 inhabitants. These towns are particularly exposed to the growing pressure arising from e-commerce, as well as competing with the larger cities as a place of residence, the study emphasises.

Five key criteria were foremost in the study – demographic development, purchasing power, catchment area, centrality and level of rents.

Topping the list of attractiveness under these aspects were Ludwigsburg and Troisdorf, followed by Sindelfingen (Baden Württemberg), Erlangen (Bavaria), Langenhagen (Lower Saxony) and Rüsselsheim (Hesse).  Then came Ulm (BW), Landshut (Bayern), Hanau (Hesse), Meerbusch (North Rhine-Westphalia) and Bad Kreuznach (Rhineland-Palatinate).

A recent study by property association IVD on the development of retail rents highlighted the increased demand for retail parks and hybrid malls in small and mid-sized towns, at the same time as retail rents in the big urban shopping centres are coming under increasing pressure.