Investigating Retail Property Market Dynamics through Spatial Accessibility Measures

Purpose: The retail property market is constantly adapting to the continuous demand of retailers and their consumers. This research project investigates retail property market dynamics through spatial accessibility measures of York’s street network. It explores how Spatial Accessibility Metrics (SAM) explain Retail Market Dynamic (RMD) through changes in the city’s retail rental values and stock. Methodology/Approach: Valuation Office Agency (VOA) datasets (aspatial) and Ordnance Survey Maps (spatial) form the empirical foundation for this investigation. Changes in retail rental value and stock between 2010 and 2017 of VOA datasets (valuation summary lists) represented the RMD variables. While, the configured street network measures of space syntax, namely, global integration, local integration, global choice and Normalised Angular Choice (NACH) were utilised as the SAM variables. The relationship between these variables were analysed through geo-visualization and statistical testing using QGIS and SPSS tools. Findings: The study reveals that there has been an overall negative changes of 15% and 22% in rental value and retail stock respectively, even though some locations within the sampled city (York, North Yorkshire, England) indicated positive changes. The study further indicated that changes in retail rental value and stock have occurred within locations with good accessibility index. It also verifies that there are spatial and statistical relationship between variables and 22% of RMD variability was jointly accounted for by SAM. Originality/Value: This research is the first to investigate changes in retail property market variables through spatial accessibility measures of space syntax. It contributes to the burgeoning research field of Space Syntax and real estate