Riccarton centre valuation on rise

Income growth at Westfield's most profitable mall has pushed up its valuation.

Justin Lynch, Westfield New Zealand director, said Christchurch's Riccarton centre shot from $414 million to $429 million.

"The valuation for the asset reflects the market expectation for the sale of the centre - the market sentiment, as assessed and reflected in the capitalisation rates, by our external valuer," Lynch said.

Earthquakes affected the 55,205sq m centre, pushing its value down from December 2010's $464 million to $414 million last year.

The mall has 198 retailers, ahead of St Lukes' 194 and Albany's 146.

Riccarton made total annual sales of $407.1 million last year, ahead of Albany's $305 million and St Lukes' $267.4 million.

Lynch said he was happy with Riccarton's performance. "Westfield Riccarton continues to demonstrate growth in all metrics including retail sales, customer visitation and income growth," he said.

Westfield St Lukes' valuation rose from $464 million to $468.6 million, but precisely when Westfield will execute its plans to double the size of that mall, or move on its plans to increase its 277 Newmarket site is unknown.

The Environment Court signed off the St Lukes plan change in December, allowing it to grow from 46,000sq m to 90,000sq m and Lynch noted how that process had taken four years.

"It may take the same amount of time again before anything happens," he said earlier this year, which might mean no changes until 2016.