Selling a retail property in a changing high street

The high street is changing, your property doesn't change automatically

Retail has been shifting towards online and towards the strongest shopping areas for years. The result is a divide: in A-locations in city centres, demand remains stable, while approach streets and peripheral areas face shorter rental contracts and more turnovers. Figures on retail vacancy rates per municipality are published by the CBS via StatLine. Take a look at your own municipality there; it gives a more realistic picture than the feeling on the street.

For you as an owner, this means one thing above all: the value of your retail property nowadays depends less on the retail function and more on what else is possible in the building.

What determines the value

The rental contract. A building with a solid tenant and four years remaining is an investment. A vacant building is a project. That difference is large. For retail space, the protection regime for '290-bedrijfsruimte' (retail space) also applies: the standard term of five plus five years and the tenant's protection against termination are laid down in the Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek) and directly influence what a buyer can do with the property.

The upper floor. In many cities, this is the greatest hidden value. A retail property with a separate entrance and a residential destination above the shop is more attractive to buyers because the residential function is more stable than the retail function.

The zoning plan, now the 'omgevingsplan'. Since the Environment Act (Omgevingswet) came into effect (1 January 2024), zoning plans have been merged into the municipality's 'omgevingsplan'. You can check what is permitted in your building free of charge in the Omgevingsloket. Space for catering, services, or residential use broadens your buyer group significantly.

The state of the shell and installations. With retail properties, the cost items are often in the shopfront, the roof, and the climate control system.

Three routes, three outcomes

  • Continue to rent out and hold. Useful if you have a tenant who pays and the return beats your alternatives. However, do factor in the sustainability requirements for the coming years.
  • Repurposing. Transformation to residential or mixed-use often yields the highest value in the long term but requires time, permits, and investment capacity. More on this in selling retail property: vacancy and repurposing.
  • Selling. If the building costs more attention than it yields, selling is the pragmatic choice.

Are you doubting between the first and the last? Our article selling or renting out retail space sets out the calculation.

We buy retail properties

Our role is that of a buyer, not an estate agent. We buy retail properties with tenants and vacant, including properties with overdue maintenance or a difficult layout. What we need to be able to make an offer: the address, the surface area, the current use, any rental contracts, and the energy label. This is followed by a site visit and a concrete offer with a completion date that you choose.

What you can expect from us is clarity on how we arrive at that offer. What you will not get from us is the bidding war that a public process in a strong high street sometimes produces. If you have an A1 property in a healthy city centre, then offering it publicly deserves serious consideration.

Practical checklist for sale

  • Cadastral data and deed of ownership
  • Lease agreement with payment history
  • Energy label
  • Overview of maintenance and recent investments
  • Information about the destination from the 'omgevingsplan'
  • In case of subdivision: deed of subdivision and VvE (Owners' Association) documents

Read more about this type of sale on our page sell retail property.