An unprecedented 32 million square meters of shopping center space is currently under construction across the world. Of that, China is home to 16.8 million square meters of space, taking up more than half of all the space under construction globally, according to a report published by global real estate service firm CBRE.

Among the top ten most active development markets globally, seven are in China. Chengdu and Tianjin has 2.9 million and 2.1 million square meters of shopping center space under construction, respectively. Shenyang, Chongqing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Hangzhou are all expected to deliver over one million square meters of shopping center space over the next three years.

The report also points out that this year, the under-construction shopping center space has reached a record, increasing 15% compared to last year. In 2012, there were 28 million square meters of shopping center space being constructed.

The breakneck growth of shopping centers in many of China's big cities has raised concerns of the market being overheated. According to global property consultancy, Knight Frank, the vacancy rate in Shenyang and Chengdu were 17% and 16.2% in 2012.

In Guangzhou, vacancy has increased to 10.2% in 2011 from just over 4% in 2011. This year, Guangzhou is expected to add another 6 big shopping malls with 660,000 square meters of space.

China is also expected to invest RMB300 billion ($48 billion) this year to build new shopping centers. The total number of shopping centers in China will reach 4,000 in 2015, making a five-time growth in a ten-year period.

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