Despite the ongoing war, Ukrainian retail is recovering.

The retail sentiment index, which is calculated monthly by the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers, shows that the shopping and entertainment center market in Ukraine has recovered by about 66%.

“This is an aggregated index based on several commercial real estate market indicators. It considers vacancy, rental rates for free space, and the number of visitors per month. If we compare it with 2021, when it was 35, now the indicator is 27,” said the head of the URTC, Maksym Gavryushin.

He emphasized that it is necessary to distinguish between real free space and leased square meters for temporarily closed stores. This applies to the large chains of Inditex, which unites the brands Zara, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, and others.

According to the URTC, the average vacancy rate in Ukrainian shopping centers is currently 2%. All establishments in the central and western regions have already returned to 2021’s rental rates, though in the south and east – only about 60%.