For the first time in five years, New York Fifth Avenue did not top the ranking of the most expensive shopping streets in the world by rental cost. According to the report Cushman &Wakefield «Main streets of the world», in 2018, the first place in the ranking was taken by Hong Kong Causeway Bay.

The report presents an assessment of 446 most expensive shopping streets from 65 countries. The rental cost rating is compiled annually based on data from the international company Cushman & Wakefield.

As a result of a significant reduction in rental rates in New York Fifth Avenue dropped to second place in the world ranking: the average rental rate, compared to last year, decreased from 3,000 to 2,250 US dollars per sq. m. foot per year. Hong Kong topped the ratingCauseway Bay. Despite a slight decrease in the average rental rate, its size still exceeded the indicator of the previous leader of the rating and amounted to $ 2,671 per sq.m. foot per year.

The third place in the rating was taken by London's New Bond Street with a rental rate of $1,744 per sq. m. foot per year. It has also become recognized as the most expensive street in Europe. It is noteworthy that the average rate on New Bond Street has hardly changed for many years. This suggests that retail companies in the luxury segment and the upper price segment still consider the UK capital as a key trading center.

The top five included Champs-Elysees (Paris, 4th position, US$ 1,519 per sq. m. foot per year) and Via Montenapoleone (Milan, 5th position, $1,466 per sq.m. foot per year). The Ginza quarter in Tokyo took the sixth place in the rating. At the same time, it became the most expensive Asian street after Hong Kong's Causeway Bay with an average rental rate of $ 1,219 per sq. m. foot per year.

Stoleshnikov Lane in Moscow re-entered the top twenty of the ranking of the most expensive shopping streets in the world and took 18th place.

In the very first report "Main Streets of the World", published in 1988, the most expensive street in the world was recognized as the 57th East Street of New York with a rental rate of $425 per sq. m. foot per year. Since then, the first place in the ranking is occupied only by the streets of New York or Hong Kong, and only Tokyo Ginza is still able to compete with them, the company's analysts conclude.

Comments on the statement Darren Yates (Darren Yates), author of the report, head of the department of analytics in the field of retail real estate in the EMEA region of the company Cushman & Wakefield: "There is still a significant demand for premium retail premises around the world and for leading retail companies, this is part of a strategy to increase the level of convenience for customers. Despite the fact that trends on a global scale are heterogeneous, there is something that unites them. The most obvious factors are the continued growth in the segments of multi-channel and online sales, as well as standard and significant investments in the design of retail outlets. Technologies undermine the usual way of life in the retail sector, but at the same time enable traditional trading companies to hold their positions, helping them to better understand customers and make visiting regular stores more attractive.

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