Property firm Stockland has reported a 4.3 per cent drop in apparel sales for the third quarter of FY4 across its town centres, with a moving annual total (MAT) of $388 million.
The apparel category also had a 3.4 per cent drop in MAT sales from the previous quarter.
This was the largest drop by volume, but is second-place to homewares sales, which recorded a 9.1 per cent drop in sales to $55 million.
Meanwhile, food catering and food retail both increased year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, with catering up 5.5 per cent on last year and 5.9 per cent on last quarter, with food retail hitting 9.6 per cent and 11.7 per cent respectively.
Despite the slump in apparel, department stores and discount department stores recorded a combined MAT growth of 2.8 per cent on both the last quarter and same time last year to $661 million. Supermarkets hit the highest growth at 5.6 per cent year on year to $1.7 billion.
Across the entire portfolio, MAT sales were up 3.4 per cent, with comparable MAT specialty sales growth of 1.3 per cent.
Stockland claimed this was underpinned by more than 70 per cent exposure to essentials-based categories, which remain strong, while sales in discretionary categories continue to moderate.
“Our Commercial Property portfolio has achieved strong results, with leasing spreads accelerating to 42.0%1 in our Logistics portfolio and continued positive leasing spreads of 3.5%2 in our Town Centres portfolio,” Stockland MD and CEO Tarun Gupta said.
“The skew towards essential-based categories has positioned our Town Centres portfolio well, delivering +3.4%3 total MAT growth.”