Causeway Bay retail corridor in Hong Kong Asking rents along the Causeway Bay corridor are only slightly less than those for Upper Fifth Avenue.

NEW YORK CITY—With asking rents of US $3,000 per square foot, Upper Fifth Avenue in Manhattan remains the world’s most expensive retail street, Cushman & Wakefield said Wednesday. However, the corridor between 49th and 60th streets saw its first decrease in annual rents per square foot since the financial crisis, and at present is narrowly ahead of Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay, where the ask is US$2,878 per square foot.

Rental values along both streets have decreased as brands balance the demands of physical and online presences. However, each remains more than twice as expensive as the leading retail corridor in any other country.

“Throughout 2016 the Americas region has benefited from stable consumer spending that has been sustained by steady employment and lower energy prices,” says Gene Spiegelman, Cushman & Wakefield’s vice chairman and head of retail services, North America. “This is an enduring trend from 2015 that we forecast to continue into 2017.”

Yet Spiegelman adds that “the larger question” for next year and beyond will be “the unrelenting rebalancing of sales origination—bricks and mortar versus e-commerce. The urban retail sector will continue to benefit from global brands seeking tangible connections with the consumer while the pressure will build upon enclosed malls and open air shopping centers to continually enhance their shopping experience and differentiate their market positions to maintain competitiveness in the continuous advancement of the ‘bricks and clicks’ model.”

Cushman & Wakefield’s annual Main Streets Across the World report tracks 462 of the top retail streets globally, ranking them by their prime rental value utilizing the firm’s proprietary data. Thirty-six percent of all retail corridors analyzed saw rental gains.

Well behind either Upper Fifth or Causeway Bay, Paris’ Avenue des Champs Élysées comes in third with annual rents of $1,368 per square foot, London’s New Bond Street is fourth at $1,283 per square foot with Tokyo’s Ginza climbing into fifth place with annual rents of $1,249. Myeongdong in Seoul, which moved up one place to eighth, was the only other upwards mover in the top 10. Rounding out the top 10 are Via Montenapoleone in Milan, Pitt Street Mall in Syndey, Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich and Kohlmarkt in Vienna.