According to the statistics of the Korea Real Estate Agency, even core commercial districts with a vacancy rate of 0% showed that empty shopping districts were placenta. The photo shows Apgujeong Rodeo Street in Seoul, where vacancy is noticeable here and there. [매경DB]– “I’ve been in business here for 15 years, and I’ve heard for the first time that there are no vacancies. Let’s go around. How many places have rental inquiries posted in the mall?”
Apgujeong Station in Seoul on the 31st of last month. Instead of the excitement of nearby office workers celebrating the end of the year, the fear of Corona 19 filled the streets. Banners of’rental inquiries’ looking for tenants were scattered over the people who were walking busy with their collars fastened in the bitter cold wave. Even the merchants who came here with billions of rights money many years ago often set up stores with no rights interest. However, according to the statistics of the Korean Real Estate Agency’s shopping districts, the vacancy rate of small shopping malls in this area is 0%.
Recently, the Korea Real Estate Agency has devised a plan to significantly increase the number of samples and receive verification by external experts in order to increase the reliability of housing price statistics, but commercial statistics do not properly reflect the market reality.
As a result of analyzing the trend of leasing small-sized stores (2 stories or less, total floor area of 330㎡ or less) in the third quarter announced by Maeil Economic Daily, the Korea Real Estate Agency on the 1st, 68 commercial districts with a vacancy rate of 0% reached 68 locations nationwide. The Korea Real Estate Agency samples 4077 dongs from 207 major commercial districts nationwide and calculates the vacancy rate by dividing the total gross floor area by the total vacancy area. Statistically, in 32% of the nation’s commercial districts in the third quarter of 2020, it was counted that there was no vacancy at all in small shopping malls.
– In Seoul alone, there were 18 commercial districts with a 0% vacancy rate for small stores. Including City Hall, Dosan-daero, Sinsa Station, Apgujeong, and Cheongdam, as well as core commercial areas in Seoul, including Sillim Station, Mangwon Station, Garak Market, and Jamsil Songpa, are also included. The commercial districts near universities such as Sookmyung Women’s University, Kyunghee University, and Konkuk University also showed no vacancy rate at all.
However, as a result of the Maeil Business Department’s tour around Apgujeong Station on that day, unlike statistics, buildings with’rental inquiries’ in every alley were noticeable. Not only the first floor of a medium-sized and large-sized shopping center with high rental fees, but also a small-scale shopping mall that would sell the entire shopping district was seen. A certified official near Apgujeong said, “With Corona 19, 70% of the self-employed here are worried about the closure of business, and less than 15% of the stores do not endure it,” he said. There are also a number of building owners who cannot get it, but statistics that do not know the reality,” he explained.
When calculating the shopping mall vacancy rate, the Korea Real Estate Agency collects information on the rate of return, such as the rate of return on investment in the store and the interest rate in the shopping mall. Due to the fact that statistics on the premise of shopping mall lease are collected, commercial buildings with a total floor area of less than 50% are excluded from the sample. Small-scale shopping malls with two floors and below are often leased by floor, but if even one floor is vacant, it is inevitable to be excluded from the sample. This is the reason why statistics of 0% vacancy rate are created, unlike market conditions.
Statistics on mid- to large-sized stores (over 3 floors and gross area exceeding 330㎡) in commercial areas across the country are also evaluated as not reflecting the market reality properly. This is because, in a situation where Corona 19 threatens commercial districts nationwide, statistics from the Korea Real Estate Agency show that 26% of the nation’s commercial districts have improved vacancy rates compared to last year.
For medium and large-sized shopping centers, the Korea Real Estate Agency sampled 4310 dongs from 211 commercial districts nationwide, and only 55 commercial districts with improved vacancy rates in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the fourth quarter of 2019 before the Corona 19 attack.
The problem is that there are too few samples to reflect the reality of the Korea Real Estate Agency’s shopping street statistics. Apgujeong has maintained the same size for the third year with 21 dongs of medium and large-sized stores, and only 6 dongs for small-scale stores. With 15 dongs in Teheran-ro in Seoul and 12 dongs in Bundang, Seongnam, the current status of mid- to large-sized store leases across the commercial district is assessed.
The Korea Real Estate Agency is also increasing the number of samples, but it is pointed out that it is still insufficient to properly capture all of the market reality. The government and the Korea Appraisal Board plan to steadily increase the sample of shopping malls this year and next year by 20% by expanding the related budget.
[유준호 기자]
[ⓒ 매일경제 & mk.co.kr, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
–
