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CEO Outlook 2026: Creating resilient retail centres.
24 April 2026
By Haben Managing Director, Ben Finger. Originally published in the Shopping Centre News Big Guns edition, March 2026.
As we look to the year ahead, at Haben we remain confident in the strength and adaptability of Australia’s retail sector. Over the past decade, the landscape has changed, yet a fundamental truth remains: well-located, customer-centric retail centres continue to play a vital role in their communities. At Haben, our focus has always been on building resilience into our portfolio, understanding the needs of each community and investing with discipline. Positioning our centres for long-term relevance and performance remains core to our approach.
EXPERIENCE-LED ANCHORS DRIVING TRAFFIC
In larger centres, point-of-difference, experience-based entertainment is a major driver of visitation. At Westpoint, a major regional centre located in Sydney’s Western suburbs, our partnership with HOYTS has delivered the introduction of IMAX with Laser and SCREENX, two formats that deliver a premium cinematic-experience destination for customers. HOYTS Westpoint, in Blacktown, is now the only location in NSW to bring together IMAX with Laser, SCREENX, Xtremescreen and DBOX all under one roof. These premium experiences strengthen the centre’s positioning as Western Sydney’s destination for family entertainment, with the cinema offering a powerful complement to the centre’s dining and leisure precinct. This combination attracts audiences who are seeking high-quality entertainment, with flow-on benefits to the broader retail offer.
At Forest Hill Chase, we have partnered with Nunawading Basketball Association to create a complex for training and tournaments on Level 3 of the centre. The purpose-built facility will welcome the basketball community – including players, families and spectators – every week, providing a meaningful way to connect with the centre and grow the retail ecosystem beyond the traditional shopping centre experience. These types of anchors embed each centre more deeply into their communities for the long term.
CONTINUOUS RENEWAL AS A CORE DISCIPLINE
At Haben, we believe the most resilient assets evolve through disciplined, consistent renewal. Across our portfolio, we have continued to invest in targeted refurbishments and new deals that add to customer experience while strengthening rental performance. These improvements range from precise, high-impact upgrades in centres like Caloundra Shopping Centre (QLD), Jesmond Central (NSW), Seven Hills Plaza (NSW) and Cleveland Central (QLD) to more substantial transformations that reposition entire precincts.
Forest Hill Chase is an example of this continued evolution. Once an ageing sub-regional centre, it is now progressing through a structured repositioning that has improved the ambience, revitalised the mall environment and attracted stronger tenant interest. At the end of 2025, the centre unveiled its Level 1 redevelopment, bringing customers a revitalised fresh food and food court precinct, improved centre navigation and modernised centre ambience and amenity. The basketball complex is the next step in that evolution. At Townsville Shopping Centre, a vertical transport upgrade became a moment of connection when the local community embraced a campaign to name the centre’s new travelator, which is now called Trevor.
The centre management team turned what could have been an inconvenience into an opportunity to connect with the community in an engaging and unexpected way. In every asset, we partner closely with our major tenants to ensure alignment and to secure investment. For example, in the past 12 months, we’ve partnered with Coles to complete refurbishments at Forest Hill Chase (VIC), Cleveland Central (QLD) and Wallsend Village (NSW). Major tenant refurbishments have unlocked income uplift and brought renewed energy into the centres. These anchor upgrades have a well-documented halo effect. They lift traffic and sales not only for the anchor but for the entire speciality mix around them.
The benefits of these targeted investments aggregate over time, creating centres that trade effectively for the long term.
FRESH FOOD AS THE BACKBONE OF FREQUENCY
While entertainment broadens a centre’s reach, fresh food is what keeps a centre essential week after week. It remains one of the most reliable drivers of frequency, spend and customer loyalty. This is why this category continues to be a strategic focus across our portfolio. At Forest Hill Chase (VIC), Seven Hills Shopping Centre (NSW) and The Pines (VIC), we have invested in new fresh food strategies tailored to the needs and demographics of each catchment. Every community has its own rhythm, tastes and cultural preferences, and fresh food must reflect that. When you curate the right operators and present fresh food well, the uplift is immediate. Customers return more frequently, speciality operators perform better and the centre stays central to the community’s daily life.
ULTRA LOCAL LEASING, GROUNDED IN DEEP INSIGHT
Retail is becoming increasingly hyperlocal. The days of a one-size-fits-all mix are long gone. Our leasing strategy is built on understanding the composition and behaviour of each catchment. We use detailed spend data, movement patterns and demographic insights to identify which retailers will genuinely meet the needs of each community. This is where retail becomes not only an experience but a reflection of the community itself. When the offer aligns with local tastes, culture and household structure, we see stronger sales, higher retention and greater customer loyalty. This ultra-local mindset continues to shape how we curate each centre.
MIXED-USE INTEGRATION SHAPING LONG-TERM VALUE CREATION
Looking ahead, mixed-use development will be one of the most important value drivers for retail assets in metropolitan locations. Many of our centres occupy premium land adjacent to transport corridors with established retail amenities already in place. These characteristics make them ideal for higher density residential, as well as for commercial uses such as office, medical and recreational uses.
Across the portfolio, we are progressing a pipeline of master plans and rezoning applications. Several thousand residential units are in approved and in planning, alongside supporting uses that will help shape these centres into fully integrated precincts. As Australia faces continued pressure on housing affordability, the opportunity for retail assets to contribute meaningfully to the solution is clear. Integrating residential with retail strengthens a centre’s commercial ecosystem, builds long-term relevance and supports sustained retail performance.
DISCIPLINED CAPITAL ALLOCATION AND A RIGOROUS UNDERWRITING MODEL
Our approach to acquisition and investment remains grounded in discipline. We evaluate numerous opportunities each year, undertake detailed assessments on a smaller subset and pursue only the assets that align with our long-term strategy. Our underwriting is comprehensive, and we look at the full potential of the asset now and in the future. It examines tenant performance, demographic alignment with the tenant mix, competition, operational efficiency and value-add potential at a granular level. This discipline is particularly important in the current market. Investor confidence has returned to retail, and we are seeing increasing competition for high quality, daily-needs and dominant regional assets. Maintaining clarity around value and risk ensures we protect investor capital and position our assets for sustainable returns. Our integrated platform is a key advantage here. Leasing, development, operations, finance and capital transactions work together from the earliest stages of assessment. This collective view strengthens our decision-making and ensures that every asset we acquire can be executed on, not just purchased.
THE YEAR AHEAD
Retail has proven its resilience. It has adapted, diversified and evolved but its importance has not wavered. Today, it stands as one of the most stable asset classes in the property market. With the right strategy, we are confident it will remain one of the most resilient and valuable asset classes in Australia.