Data and facts on the retail market in Salzburg
Retail space city
71,600 sqm
Retail space per capita
0.46 sqm 116 sqm
Ø Shop size
Share of retail chain branches
29.2 %
Vacancy rate Turnover rate
6.6 %
12.5 %
Source: Standort + Markt 2021/22
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The Retail Market in Salzburg
In contrast to the popular view – which is most likely influenced by the well-known shopping zone along the Getreidegasse/Judengasse – Salzburg is a relatively undersized retail location in compari- son with the number of inhabitants. The inner city areas, in particular, have a moderate 71,600 square metres of space, which rank this fourth largest city in Austria behind much smaller cities like Innsbruck and Klagenfurt. The low volume of retail space in the inner city is due, on the one hand, to the structure of the many historical buildings in the Old City, which is classi- fied as a world cultural heritage site. The size of the individual shops is substantially below average at
116 square metres and even lower at 110 square metres in prime locations. On the other hand, two mountains, the Mönchsberg and Kapuzinerberg, place strict spatial limits on construction in the Old City: The street has a length of 4.65 km with only 1.7 km of prime locations. However, the limited supply of space represents a positive factor for the secondary locations in Salzburg which perform significantly better on average than the city centres of other provincial capitals.
"Restrictive zoning leads to an undersupply of large modern retail spaces on the periphery."
Demography & the Salzburg economy
Restrictive zoning has also created a situation where shopping centres on the periphery have less space than in the capital cities of the other Austrian provinces. The Europapark, the largest centre by far, has been trying for years to obtain a permit for expansion of the current 50,700 square metres of rental space. These efforts now appear to be successful and will permit the creation of 8,500 square metres of additional shopping areas. The retail park cluster, including the Designer Out- let, in the neighbouring community of Wals-Siezen- heim also benefits from a transregional catchment area.
With its 155,000 residents, Salzburg is the fourth largest city in Austria. Population growth has been steady and moderate. The province of Salzburg ranks third in the country’s per capita purchasing power. The development of the local economy, in general, and the retail property market, in particular, is more heavily dependent on tourism than any other provincial capital (based on the population, it is one of the most popular tourism destinations in Europe). The sharp drop in the number of overnight stays and day visitors during the pandemic had a stronger negative influence on this festival city than Vienna or the other Austrian provincial capitals.
Salzburg’s strength as a tourism destination (approx. 3.3 million overnight stays in 2019) was
22
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