Budhouse Group shopping centers welcomed 22 million visitors last year, with attendance remaining unchanged compared to 2023. Attendance at the Nikolsky shopping center decreased due to extensive shelling in Kharkiv and a high number of air raid alarms in the first half of the year, recovering only in the fall. In contrast, Lubava and Forum Lviv shopping center attendance gradually rose throughout the year, averaging 565 visitors per 1,000 square feet of rental space.
The turnover of all the company’s shopping centers reached ₴12.2B, a 33% increase from 2023 (+20% in euros). However, compared to 2021 shopping center turnover grew only in hryvnia terms – by 17% – while decreasing by 14% in foreign currency terms. The main reason for this decline was the closure of the Fabrika shopping mall and the difficult situation in Kharkiv at the beginning of the year.
Nevertheless, the unaffected shopping malls significantly outperformed 2021 levels in currency terms: The Lubava shopping mall (+16%) and Forum Lviv shopping mall (+32%) both enjoyed large increases. Last year, the lowest vacancy rate for shopping malls was 0.9%.