Rents in prime European shopping centre markets will likely remain stable over the next two years due to a sharp decline in new assets coming to the market, real estate adviser Savills has predicted.

Savills said the annual supply of development completions is expected to drop by 12.5% per year on average between 2011 and 2013. This is a significant contrast to the previous seven years when shopping centre supply across these markets grew annually by 22.4% on average, according to the firm's data.

The forecast is based on a study of seven European retail markets including Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Turkey and the UK.

Eri Mitsostergiou, director in Savills European Research, said: 'A slowing rate of shopping centre development completions in Europe will help avoid oversupply in the markets and keep rents stable and vacancy rates down in the prime shopping centres.'