London's New Bond Street has retained third place in Cushman & Wakefield's Main Streets Across the World report, with its average rent reaching a reported €16,071 per m2 per year.
The British capital is ranked as both the UK and Europe's most expensive shopping street, behind the report's new leader, Hong Kong's Causeway Bay (€24,606 per m2 per year), with New York's Upper 5th Avenue slipping to second spot (€20,733 per m2 per year).
'There is still a healthy future for the sector but we are moving to a "beyond retail" phase driven by societal and technological change meaning business models will also need to adapt,' said Justin Taylor, head of EMEA retail at Cushman & Wakefield.
'Traditional retail will survive and in many locations prosper, but it will likely form a smaller part of the overall occupier mix. Even in these most expensive high street locations, we are likely to see a mix of uses such as restaurants, leisure, fitness and services,' Taylor added.
The Czech Republic has made it into the top 20 most expensive retail streets globally for the first time. With rents of €2,640 per m2 per year, Prague’s Na Príkope Street is at No. 19, leaping three positions from the last year.
In the EMEA ranking, Avenue del Champs Elysees in Paris came in second behind Bond Street with annual rents per m2 at €13,992. Milan's Via Montenapoleone was a close third, registering rents of €13,500 per m2.
Across Europe, Kaunas in Lithuania provided the most affordable street at €175 per m2 per year. The strongest growth year-on-year was seen in Porto's Baixa (Rua de Santa Catarina) in Portugal, with a rise of 30.4% to €1,042 per m2 per year. The biggest rental decline was in Istanbul’s Bagdat Caddesi, down -24% to end at €1,892 per m2 per year. Four of the top 10 European cities are in Italy (Milan, Rome, Venice and Florence) while Germany’s top shopping street, Kaufinger/Neuhauser in Munich, places 10th.
In the UK and Ireland chart, seven of the top 10 locations were situated in London with only Dublin’s Grafton Street and Henry Street, along with Glasgow’s Buchanan Street breaking up the monopoly.
According to the report, Edinburgh’s Princes Street has seen the largest rental yield increase in the UK growing 11.6%, closely followed by Shop Street in Galway, which has increased 9.1%.
