• Foreword
• Introduction
• The database
• Average service charge
• Average service charge components by percentage
• Service charge by location
• Cost class by location
• Cost class by type and size
• Service charge by size and location
• Average service charge by size, location and type
• Conclusion
• Looking to the future
• Definition of terms
• Geographical areas
• Data contributors
• Contact us
• Download OSCAR PDF

Conclusion

Retail OSCAR continues to provide owners and occupiers the opportunity to identify changes in service charge costs on a year by year basis and to benchmark the costs of individual shopping centres and their particular environment.

It is important to stress the unique nature of individual shopping centres and their environments which means direct comparisons should be made with care.

This year's report covers 36.2 million square feet of retail space across 104 shopping centres of various sizes, types and locations across the UK with a combined total service charge expenditure in excess of £148 million.

The principal findings of this years report have shown:

1. Of the 68 centres which were included in both the 2006 and 2007 reports 75% reported no increase in total service charge expenditure, while 3% have shown increases in line with RPI and the remaining 22% have reported year on year increases in excess of RPI.
2. The average service charge by type (including exceptional expenditure) has increased over the past 12 months from £4.04 per sq ft to £4.45 per sq ft, an increase of 10%. Average service charge by type (excluding exceptional expenditure) has increased from £4.02 per sq ft to £4.33 per sq ft, an increase of 7%.
3. Following the trend over the past 5 years Soft Services again represent the greatest proportion of total service charge expenditure at 45.73% - a slight decrease from the average over the past five years of 47-48. Proportionate expenditure on Management, Utilities and Insurance have increased slightly in 2007, Exceptional Expenditure as a percentage of the whole has increased significantly from 0.56% in 2006 to 4.25% in 2007 and Hard Service Expenditure has decreased slight as proportion of the whole.
4. Region 1 remains the most expensive region in the UK for the tenth consecutive year.
5. As a general rule economies of scale exist, with large centres benefiting from greater purchasing power, resulting in lower levels of service charge than small centres.