The European luxury retail real estate market continues to show resilience with further store openings in 2024 despite another year of transition in the luxury retail market.
A total of 83 new luxury stores opened on Europe’s 20 key luxury streets across 16 cities in 12 countries in 2024, down from 107 in 2023, according to the European Luxury Retail 2025 report. The fashion & accessories segment accounting for nearly half of all store openings (41), while jewellery & watches brands opened a total of 26 stores in 2024, up from 21 in 2023, as ‘hard luxury’ continues to appeal to luxury consumers.
Vacancy rates have largely tightened across Europe, with 17 of the 20 key streets having vacancy of less than 5%, six of which have no vacancy at all, helping to drive rental growth on luxury streets to 3.6% in 2024. For this reason, the slight reduction in the number of store openings reflects not just a more modest sales growth environment in luxury retail, but also the dynamics within individual markets including the availability of spaces in which brands are looking to invest.
In Lisbon, Avenida da Liberdade continued to attract new luxury brands, with a total of five new openings over the year.
Avenida da Liberdade is the destination of choice for international luxury brands, and its location in the Prime CBD - home to major company head offices and 5-star hotels - provides the perfect environment for such brands.
Some buildings offer attractive façades and surface areas that meet the brands' requirements, but the big challenge is still the number of units available. The vacancy rate on Avenida da Liberdade is just 2%, identical to the one recorded by the end of 2023. Continued demand on this main street in the city centre has driven rental growth, which has risen by more than 9% since the end of 2023.
