NYC's Fifth Avenue Most Expensive Global Retail Address

In its first report tracking the world’s top retail districts since the pandemic began, Cushman & Wakefield has named NYC’s Upper Fifth Avenue—the stretch between 49th Street and 60^th Street—has overtaken Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay as the world’s most expensive retail address.

Milan’s Via Montenapoleon leapfrogged into third place in C&W’s Main Streets Across the World report, which tracks the top retail districts across 92 global cities and ranks the most expensive by prime retail value, over London’s New Bond Street and The Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris, respectively.

C&W suspended the annual report of the world’s priciest retail addresses during the pandemic. The first annual Main Streets report since 2019 also provided a regional perspective to the emerging post-pandemic recovery:

North America has been the most resilient region, with retail rents now on average 15% higher than pre-pandemic levels in the top retail districts; Asia-Pacific rents have declined on average by 17%, due to international border closures.

Globally, rents across prime retail districts dropped by 13% at the nadir of the pandemic; these rents have rebounded to 6% below pre-pandemic levels, the report found.

According to C&W’s report, Upper Fifth Avenue is far outpacing its competitors as the most expensive retail corridor, with average rents hitting $2,000 per SF, about 14% higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The rents in the priciest retail districts in Hong Kong, Milan, London and Paris were $1,436, $1,380, $1,361 and $1,050, respectively.

The rent for Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay represents a 41% decline compared to pre-pandemic levels, no doubt impacted by China’s strict COVID lockdown policy. Unprecedented public protests have broken out across China in opposition to President Xi’s rigid “Zero COVID” rule, which has disrupted business throughout the PRC.

The average rents for London’s New Bond Street and the Champs Elysee in Paris also reflect struggling recoveries, with the London benchmark 11% lower than pre-pandemic rates and the Paris about 18% lower than in 2019.

Of the top 10 city districts in C&W’s Main Streets report, only Fifth Avenue and Milan’s Montenapoleone have exceeded pre-pandemic rent levels, with the Milan district coming in 9% over the 2019 level.

Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district—no. 6 on the list—broke even with the pre-pandemic level, with an average rent of $945.

Rounding out the top 10 were Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse (with an average rent of $845, a 3% decline from the 2019 rent); Sydney’s Pitt St. Mall ($723, -24%); Seoul’s Myeongdong district ($567, -23%); and Shanghai’s West Nanjing Road ($496, -14%).