Retail Sales Recovery Continues

There is mixed commentary when it comes to the CSO published yesterday, Retail Ireland, the Ibec group that represents the retail sector said CSO figures for retail sales in March were very disappointing and showed no change in sales in shops around the country when in fact Core retail sales volumes, excluding motor trade, rose by 2.6% in the first quarter while overall volumes rose by approximately 9%.  In March 2014 there was an increase of 1.4% in the value of retail sales when compared with February 2014 and there was an annual increase of 6.4% when compared with March 2013.

However, the late timing of Easter this year may affect the annual comparison in some of these sectors, and we would hope these figures bode well for April. Early indications from our shopping centre portfolio are positive and we would not be surprised to see a bounce back in April to coincide with the late Easter this year.