Fifth Avenue is no longer world’s most expensive retail destination
New York’s Upper Fifth Avenue has lost its long-held crown as the world’s most expensive street in retail.
Via Montenapoleone in Milan is the most expensive retail destination in the world, according to the 34th edition of Cushman & Wakefield’s “Main Streets Across the World” report, which focuses on headline rents in 138 best-in-class urban retail locations across the globe. It is the first time a European street has topped the global rankings.
Via Montenapoleone has steadily risen in the rankings in recent years, and was second to Upper Fifth Avenue in 2023. Rents on the street rose 11% to $2,047 per square foot annually in the past 12 months as demand outstripped supply. By comparison, rents on Upper Fifth Avenue, which covers 49th to 60th streets, remained flat for the second consecutive year at $2,000 per square foot.
London’s New Bond Street came in third, with rents at $1,762 per square foot. Rounding out the top five were Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui ($1,607) and the famed Avenue des Champs Élysées in Paris (41,282). The rest of the top 10 included Ginza, Tokyo; Bahnhoftstrasse, Zurich; Pitt Street Mall, Sydney; Myeongdong, Seoul; and Kohlmarkt, Vienna.
Rents increased in 79 of the 138 locations tracked, declining in just 19, with global average rental increase of 4.4%, according to the report. In other insights, rents across the 138 locations are now on average nearly 6% above pre-pandemic levels.
While Milan has the most expensive street, Americas was the strongest performer regionally at 8.5%, driven by rental growth of almost 11% in the U.S., which is more than double the 5.2% recorded last year. Miami’s Design District led in rental growth in the U.S., with rents rising more than 66 % during the past year, reported WWD, with Miami’s Brickell Boulevard Corridor and Wynwood Region also strong performers.
“Growth at a global and regional level was led by the U.S. this year, but every region had really strong double-digit growth in certain markets — truly exceptional in some cases — and others where rents have slipped for one reason or another,” said Dr. Dominic Brown, author of the report and Cushman & Wakefield’s Head of International Research. “However, performance at the very top end underlines that the strength of ‘prime’ continues to rise and we expect that to continue as conditions improve.”
