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In front of the KaDeWe in Berlin: The top locations are also recovering in large and medium-sized centers
Photo: Christoph Soeder / dpa
Despite the ongoing corona pandemic, the number of empty shops in the centers of German cities is apparently falling.
This is based on figures from the real estate association IVD, which are available to SPIEGEL.
Accordingly, although an average of 20 percent of the 6,000 IVD members report an increasing vacancy rate since the beginning of the pandemic, almost two thirds even consider this to be a permanent problem.
However, especially in the best areas, the so-called 1A locations, the space is already filling up again: According to IVD information, almost 14 percent of the shops in Germany on the "high streets" were empty in February.
In September it was only a little over twelve.
The recovery is most evident in the seven largest municipalities in the republic.
Here the vacancy rate fell from 13.8 to only 10.6 percent.
But the top locations are also doing better in large and medium-sized centers.
However, it becomes difficult in the peripheral and side shopping streets, especially in smaller municipalities.
According to the IVD, more than 38 percent of the space in cities with between 5000 and 10,000 inhabitants is vacant, in medium-sized cities with between 20,000 and 100,000 inhabitants it is still around 27 percent.
"New concepts" are needed for these locations, according to Carolin Hegenbarth, Federal Manager of the IVD.
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