PwC analysts called Tashkent the new capital of real estate

Over the past few years, Uzbekistan has been implementing large-scale multifunctional development projects, including in the regions, according to PwC analysts in Russia.

The first real estate segment that began to develop rapidly was the retail market: today in Tashkent there are 8 new and modernized shopping centers, 6 of which were built after 2010, when the construction of new retail facilities began in the city.

Tashkent is still inferior not only to large European megacities, but also to the cities of neighboring Kazakhstan: Almaty (almost 10 times), Astana (almost 15 times) in terms of supply of retail space – for example, today only 35 square meters per thousand people.

For the next two years, 5 high-quality shopping centers with a total leasable area of 129 thousand square meters are announced for opening in the city at once. If sold, the volume of supply on the market will increase by 160% in 2 years.
The key factors hindering the development of high-quality retail are the relatively low level of income and loyalty to the traditional retail format. At the same time, the consumer model shows a shift in demand towards shopping centers.

According to experts, the market is currently highly consolidated: by 2019, the 2 largest developers will account for 78% of the market of high-quality modern shopping centers among objects with a rentable area of at least 5000 sq.m. The anchor tenants of the new shopping centers are mainly local chains of food products and household appliances, the number of international brands remains low.
According to the calculations, such a low share of costs for high-quality retail facilities (7 percent) is associated with the beginning of the development of the format of modern high-quality shopping centers and as a result, with a low supply volume.

PwC predicts that as revenue grows, new foreign brands, including Russian ones, will enter the market.

Another growing segment is the hotel. Today in Tashkent there are 129 hotels with a total number of rooms of about 6 thousand. Most accommodation facilities belong to mini-hotels and hotels of low price categories.
According to the announced plans of investors, by 2021 in the city there will be 8 new high-quality hotels with a total number of rooms of about 1300 (including Tashkent City and Hightech City). Thus, the volume of quality supply will grow by 68%.

The average cost of an overnight stay for a quality hotel is in the range of $ 103- $ 179 for mid-range hotels and $ 218- $ 333 for high-end hotels.

However, with the increase in tourist flow, the length of stay in the city also increases (on average, 2.6 days).