Retail sales at Australian shopping centres grew 3.2 per cent in the year to June 2026, led by specialty retailers including fashion, according to a new quarterly report from the Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCCA) and Urbis.
Specialty retailers, defined as specialty shops and mini-majors, grew 4 per cent. Majors, which cover department stores, discount department stores and supermarkets, grew 2.4 per cent. The report lists fashion alongside food catering, jewellery and technology as the categories driving specialty growth.
The inaugural Retail Insights report also found customer foot traffic rose 2 per cent nationally over the period, while retail tenant occupancy sits at 98.8 per cent.
Apparel, which includes footwear, accounted for 19 per cent of retail leasing deals completed in the June quarter. That made it the second-largest category behind food catering at 39.6 per cent. Retail services followed at 17.1 per cent, general retail at 15.8 per cent and food retail at 4 per cent. The report said the mix reflects "the increasing importance of in-centre consumption categories".
Performance varied by state. The ACT and WA led with growth of around 4 per cent, while Victoria and Tasmania were more subdued at around 2 per cent.
SCCA chair Elliott Rusanow said shopping centres support 1.4 million jobs and generate around $200 billion in annual retail trade.
Urbis director Ian Shimmin added that the report shows the ongoing strength of Australia's shopping centre market. He said it is based on direct SCCA member data, which "means that the industry can speak more directly and credibly to what's happening on the ground".
The report also included analysis from Urbis, drawing on a Cistri study of 70 leading shopping centres across six global markets. It found department stores are declining significantly worldwide as centres broaden into dining, entertainment, wellness, services and community uses.
Australia's average vacancy rate is around 2 per cent, compared with 8 per cent globally. Urbis attributed this to a more diversified anchor model that combines supermarkets, discount department stores and traditional department stores.
Australia still lags global benchmarks on emerging formats, however. Retail mini-majors make up 19 per cent of occupied floorspace locally, against a global average of 40 per cent, and food, beverage and entertainment uses also sit below international levels.
The report said Australian regional centre owners have been "demonstrably proactive" in reusing department store and discount department store space, while North American owners have had to be reactive. It added that it remains to be seen whether Australian owners will keep investing ahead of the curve in a capital-light environment.
Retail Insights is based on SCCA member data covering 75 per cent of shopping centre floor space across all jurisdictions except the Northern Territory.