Asian top location rents boom, Fifth Avenue still first

For the first time since the start of the economic crisis, rents in the world’s top locations have been rising again. In 81% of the countries prices went up or stayed the same – far better than the 66% of last year. Global prime rents increased by 4.8% after two years of going down.

Asia booms in renting price list

International real estate agency Cushman & Wakefield looked into 278 shopping streets in 63 countries for their report “Main streets across the world”, and found out that especially Asian markets are on the rise. Three of the four most expensive shopping streets in the world are in Hong Kong, the number six is Japanese and the fastest climber in the world, Wangfujing, is Pekinese. 

John Strachan, Global head of retail at C&W, explains that , “the recovery in the West is fragile but our offices have seen enhanced levels of business, particularly in the major city centres which are on the shopping lists of many international brands. Supply is short and both rents and prices are being forced upwards. Retailers continue to expand in the Middle-East and Japan, but China and India remain the focus of attention for many of the world’s leading retailers.’’

Fifth Avenue most expensive location on earth

For the tenth year running, New York’s Fifth Avenue is the most expensive shopping street in the world: rents there increased 22% to 16,704 euro (per square meter and per year). Hong Kong occupies the next three spots with Causeway bay (14,426 euro), Central (12,022 euro) and Tsim Sha Tsui (10,224 euro). Another New York street, East 57th, lands on the fifth spot with a yearly rent of 8909 euro. 

Further back in the top-10, there are two streets in Tokyo: Ginza (sixth with 7750 euro) and Omotesando (ninth with 7130 euro), two European streets: the Champs Elysées on number eight (7364 euro) and London’s New Bond Street on number ten with 6901 euro. The odd one out is Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall, where prices went up 33% to earn the Australians a seventh place in the global top-10 with 7384 euro.

European top is very concentrated

In Europe, prime rents are far more stable: the average growth was 1.9%, with very few locations really losing ground. Helsinki’s city centre was the fastest growing European top location with a 33% rent rise. All ten European top locations are either British, Italian or French, with the notable exception of Zürich’s Bahnhofstrasse at number five.

The European list,  including all streets, is: 

The “filtered” list, with only one location per country, also includes Kaufingerstraße (Munich, 3960 euro), Kärntnerstraße (Vienna, 3300 euro), Portal de l’Angel (Barcelona, 3120 euro), Tverskaya (Moscow, 3104 euro) and Grafton Street (Dublin, 3007 euro). The most expensive Dutch street is Amsterdam’s Kalverstraat (2500 euro per m² per year), whereas the Antwerp Meir has joined Brussels’s Rue Neuve as most expensive street in Brussels, both now costing 1800 euro. It is however noteworthy that neither of the two most expensive Belgian shopping streets according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s survey were included in this report. Last year, JLL announced that Schuttershofstraat and Huidevetterstraat, both smaller but exclusive streets in Antwerp, had crossed the 2000 euro milestone.