After years as runner-up, Avenue holds the largest share of Belgium’s out-of-town letting market for the first time: 57,767 m² leased across more than fifty transactions, 20.3% of the market. Those deals say more about the periphery than about us.
The result first confirms the strength of the Belgian peripheral market. Take-up is exceptionally high, and has been for years. Rents rise steadily. The market is more stable than most assume, and carries lower risk than other segments. That predictability keeps investors buying.
For owners, the question is not whether their park stays let. It is who they let it to, because that choice moves the value of the asset more than anything else on site.
When a chain leaves, the location stays
2025 put the periphery to the test. Former Leen Bakker and Carpetright units came back onto the market, and they did not stay empty. Demand for the Leen Bakker units was strong. The best Carpetright locations found new tenants very quickly.
Expanding home and sleep retailers took the space. Jysk, Dreamland and Swiss Sense accounted for a significant share of demand.
The lesson for owners is that a strong out-of-town location outlives its tenant. In a good park, a vacancy is a repricing moment.
The tenant sets the yield
Location still matters. But today, investors price the quality and type of the sitting tenant first, and daily goods are the most sought after.
The spread is wide. Fast-food concepts such as McDonald’s, on leases of up to fifty years, trade at around 4.25 to 4.50 percent net. Supermarkets sit around 5 percent. Textile moves closer to 6 percent.
That spread hits owners directly. At the same rent, a unit valued at a 5 percent yield is worth about a fifth more than one valued at 6 percent. Every relet is a valuation decision.
Investors are watching. The sales of the Frunparks in Auvelais and Izegem and of B Park in Bruges were the largest peripheral retail transactions of the year. Appetite for retail real estate is far from satisfied, and it follows tenant quality.
What retailers now ask of a park
Visibility, access and parking are the baseline. Click and collect works best where customers park at the door, which gives the periphery an edge as hybrid retail settles in.
Sustainability now decides between options. Given a choice, retailers pick ESG-compliant new developments, and they pay slightly higher rents for them. For older parks, that sets a deadline: renovate and upgrade, or lose tenants and value to newer schemes.
The decisions that compound
Out-of-town retail rewards owners who move early. Permits for new or reworked schemes often take years, so the tenant mix you want in three years is decided now.
Every owner should be able to answer three questions for their own park. Which tenant category drives its value? Which units are next to come free? Does the building meet what the next tenant will ask?
Facing a relet or a tenant-mix decision? Talk to our Out of town agency
