The vacancy rate for retail units in Belgium's prime lcoations is no more than 0.02%, according to figures from Cushman & Wakefield. This translates into the availability of just nine units for let, the adviser said in response to alarming vacancy figures published recently by Locatus in the Belgian press.

'The vacancy rate in the best retail locations of the country is close to zero,' noted Karl Van Oosterwijck, Partner at Cushman & Wakefield. 'The performances in the Belgian retail market for the year 2009 were relatively good,' added Koen Nevens, Partner and Head of Retail Warehouse. 'Whilst other European countries underwent more severe corrections in their rental values, retail rents in Belgium remained stable. The automatic indexation of salaries combined with the 2009 deflation episode led to an improvement in the overall purchasing power, which translated into turnovers that were fairly satisfactory. Secondary locations may have suffered from the crisis a bit more, yet there is no valid reason to expand this observation to the entire high street market, especially as far as the most prestigious and best performing locations are concerned.'