Supermarkets sitting on 1,000 acres of land

New figures from CBRE have revealed that supermarkets are building on just 6% of the land they control across the UK, underlining the problem they face with undeveloped sites. CBRE said the pipeline of new grocery stores in the UK is 46.61m sq ft, the equivalent of more than 1,000 acres. However, just 2.8m sq ft of these new stores are under construction. The land is either subject to a proposal for a new food store, or planning permission has already been granted. The Telegraph, picking up on the figures, says the news will lead to critics claiming that supermarkets are hoarding land that could be used for new homes. The paper also points out, however, that the statistics highlight the scale of the challenge grocery retailers’ face in dealing with their land. If the retailers decide they no longer want to build shops on the sites, they will be forced to book billions of pounds in write-downs. Chris Keen, director of supermarket leasing at CBRE, said “It is too early to say whether we are looking at a hiatus or the onset of an actual long-run decline in UK grocery store development activity. A sea-change in grocery markets is however certainly occurring.”