In the wake of the ongoing mall boom investment in commercial retail property has turned out be a secure investment, paying rich dividends in terms of capital appreciation and promising big rental gains.

The current retail landscape in the country looks really promising with number of malls set to touch 500 mark by 2010, adding an estimated 50msf of organized retail space over the next five years. The retail demand, according to Shubrahnshu Pani, President, Retail Services, Tramell Crow Meghraj, will see quantum jump with the entry of Wal Mart and big Indian players like Reliance, Tata, Birlas and Future Group. The way these Big Boys of retail are scaling up their operations with multiple formats, one would see a big boom in retail stores, throwing up endless opportunities for investment in retail property. Sanjay Sachdeva, Senior VP and Head Retail of APIL says that the large-scale expansion by big retailers and speedy has been possible thorough the franchising route. This has thrown up more investment opportunities in retail real estate. "Earlier investors used to fight shy of investing in shops on high street as in many cases the legal status of these retail properties was doubtful. And as such they were investing in office property for rental gains. But now with the emergence of legally free hold space in malls, more and more investors are going in for investing in retail property.

                                                                   Courtesy realty plus