The UK shopping centre investment market is set for a strong second half of 2026, with deals for 17 centres worth a total £1.1bn under offer, according to Savills.
An additional 19 centres remain on the market with a combined quoted value of around £320m, the international real estate adviser said, taking the total including deals under offer to £1.4bn.
Deals in the first half were heavily weighted towards the start of this year, with a bumper Q1 accounting for £418m of transactions, before activity slowed in Q2 with only £85m traded across four deals.
“The second half of the year is where we expect the market to become much more active,” said Mark Garmon-Jones, head of shopping centre and retail investment at Savills.
“H1 was respectable, but uneven, with a strong Q1 followed by a quieter Q2. What matters now is the depth of the pipeline; this is not a market short of demand, but one where activity is increasingly being driven by better-quality assets.”
Average deal values have hit £44m in the year to date, the highest level since 2016, reflecting a shift towards larger assets that appeal to institutions. Deals at Merry Hill in the West Midlands and The Broadway in Bradford together accounted for around 72% of H1 transaction volumes.
After several years on the sidelines, institutions and REITs are again targeting shopping centres, particularly larger, dominant schemes with clear occupational resilience and long-term asset management potential.
Debt markets remain supportive of such deals, with senior banks and credit funds deploying capital to support the purchase of quality assets.
Sam Arrowsmith, commercial research director at Savills, said: “The shopping centre market enters the second half of 2026 in a stronger position than the Q2 figures alone suggest.
“Vacancy has seen the largest quarterly fall in 10 years, leasing demand is improving and the return of institutional capital is a clear signal that confidence is rebuilding. The risks are more about timing than direction, and for well-capitalised buyers, the window to secure high-quality assets ahead of further yield compression is narrowing.”
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