According to our research, New York’s Fifth Avenue remains the most expensive retail main street in the world. Milan’s Via Montenapoleone moved into second place this year, pushing Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui into third position. New Bond Street in London and Avenues des Champs Élysées in Paris are also among the top five in the global ranking. Two other European main streets, Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse and Vienna's Kohlmarkt, have made it into the top 10, while Germany, with Munich’s Kaufinger/Neuhauser Strasse, is 14th in the country ranking on which the result is based.
The 33rd edition of our "Main Streets Across the World 2023" reports that retail rents in Milan's Via Montenapoleone rose by 20 percent last year to EUR 18,000/sq m/year, displacing Hong Kong's Tsim Sha Tsui. Rental growth here was only 4 percent, which corresponds to an annual rent per square metre equivalent to EUR 15,219. Rents on New York's Fifth Avenue remained stable at EUR 20,384/sq m/year.
Our data focuses on prime rents in the best urban locations per country, many of which are associated with the luxury sector. Retail rents continue to recover here, exhibiting resilience and growing by an average of 4.8 percent globally and 4.2 percent across Europe.
In a European comparison, German cities are middle-ranking among the 57 most expensive main retail streets. Munich's Kaufinger/Neuhauser Strasse, with a rent of EUR 3,840/sq m/year, is ranked 24th (2022: 23rd), while Maximilianstrasse, at EUR 3,360/sq m/year, is two positions behind in 26th place, as in the previous year. They are followed by Berlin's Tauentzienstrasse and Frankfurt’s Zeil in 29th and 30th place respectively, both falling by one position compared to 2022. Hamburg’s Spitalerstrasse and Düsseldorf's Königsallee complete the German quintet in the European ranking directly behind them, also at EUR 3,000/sq m/year, and both have also slipped by one place
The "Main Streets Across the World" report was first published in 1988 and compares the top retail main streets worldwide. What is striking this year is that almost 60 percent of the locations still exhibit rent levels which are below their pre-Covid-19 values. This is most evident in Europe, where 70 locations of markets are below this level, compared to 31 percent in the USA.
