“They are part of our community infrastructure just as are schools, hospitals and social clubs; they are places for social interaction and are managed as such. As community needs and wants change, so do our centres; they are responsive to the market.”

Vicinity and Gandel’s jointly owned Chadstone, in Melbourne’s south-east, still holds the number one spot in sales, with $2.67 billion, unchanged from the previous year, while Scentre Group’s Westfield Chermside in Brisbane recorded a 6.3 per cent increase, placing it second with MAT of $1.3 billion.

Lloyd said the latest Big Guns results clearly showed the resilience of Australian shopping centres. He said Australia led the world in shopping centre development and management and had done so for many years.

Since their inception in the 1960s they’ve been the most sought-after assets by global funds because of their unwavering growth in terms of return on investment.

“If you want an indication of how solid that is, look at Westfield as an example,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd predicts that by 2028, a centre will need to have an annual turnover of $1 billion to make it into the top 20.

Looking at the numbers for specialty stores, which are usually about 400 square metres in size, the most profitable was Chadstone, recording $26,859 per square metre, up 27 per cent on the previous year.

‘Our centres have gone far beyond the mall status.’

SCN Publisher Michael Lloyd

“Our centres have gone far beyond the mall status,” Lloyd said at the SCN event.

“No longer are they simply retail, leisure and entertainment centres, but, as community focal points, they have become integral parts of the community in the same way as hospitals, train stations and even schools.”

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Barnett said Melbourne Central has evolved from a CBD workers’ place of convenience to a weekend destination.

“The asset has become a must-do tourism attraction in Melbourne off the back of unique offerings like Monopoly Dreams, which is bringing the highest selling board game of all time to life,” he said.

Ben Gilbert, retail analyst at Jarden, said in a note to clients that “the worst is behind us” for the sector.

“That was our key takeaway from consumer results with earnings per share about 7 per cent ahead of expectations and management talking to spending resilience, rational promotions and cost control,” Gilbert said.

But he said consumers are prepared to shop around for bargains.

The emergence of value focused shoppers is creating challenges in three broad ways: share on promotion and the focus on discounts is up; more cross-shopping with leakage from supermarkets to the likes of Chemist Warehouse; and loyalty programs appear less effective, he said.

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