An 11-block slice of New York’s Fifth Avenue has displaced a shopping district in Hong Kong as the world’s most expensive street on which to rent retail space. That’s according to real estate consulting firm Cushman & Wakefield’s newly released “Main Streets Across the World” report, which said rents on Fifth Avenue (between 49th and 60th streets) averaged $2,000 per square foot/per year.
Hong Kong dropped out of the top spot to second place, with Tsim Sha Tsui district overtaking Causeway Bay in 2020 to become the city-state’s most expensive precinct, with rents of $1436 per square foot/per year.
Within the Americas, all but one of the top 10 most-expensive markets are in the U.S. Here are the rankings of those markets, including New York at the top:
| 1 |
New York City |
Upper Fifth Avenue (49th to 60th Sts) |
$2,000 |
| 2 |
Los Angeles |
Rodeo Drive (Beverly Hills) |
$900 |
| 3 |
San Francisco |
Union Square |
$495 |
| 4 |
Las Vegas |
Las Vegas Blvd. |
$425 |
| 5 |
Chicago |
North Michigan Avenue |
$425 |
| 6 |
Boston |
Newbury Street |
$400 |
| 7 |
Toronto |
Bloor Street |
$250 |
| 8 |
Miami |
Lincoln Road |
$225 |
| 9 |
Palm Beach |
Worth Avenue |
$200 |
| 10 |
Austin |
South Congress (SoCo) |
$200 |
Based on such findings, the report says “‘retail apocalypse’ is no longer the term du jour. While we still face economic volatility, the conversation has shifted to retail’s future — an omnichannel world in which the most successful brands understand their customers on a new level and meet them where they are.”
Download the full report here.
