Report: Retailers balk at through-the-roof rents on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan

Are landlords on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue shooting themselves in the foot by demanding record new rents for the famed shopping address?



The availability rate on Fifth Avenue increased to 15.9% in the third quarter, up from about 10% from a year earlier, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc., Bloomberg reported.



"Property trades are being based on achieving ever-higher rents, and nobody ever really looks at what retailers can afford to pay,” Richard Hodos, a vice chairman at CBRE Group Inc. told Bloomberg. “In some cases, rents need to come down 30 percent or more for rents to be at levels where retailers are able to make sense of them again.”



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