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.