Fifth Avenue Is the Most Expensive Retail Corridor in the World, Report Says

Upper Fifth Avenue is the most expensive retail corridor in the world by a long shot.

A square foot of retail space on the world famous avenue was priced at $3,500 through the first half of this year -- nearly twice as much as Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, which was No. 2 on a list released Wednesday by global real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Fifth Avenue was the most expensive global retail location last year as well. Causeway Bay was the most expensive in 2013, with Fifth Avenue in second place that year.

Fifth Avenue's success is buoyed by heavy foot traffic from tourists in the area, according to the report.

During the second quarter of 2015, rents on the stretch reached $3,500 per square foot, an increase of 3.6 percent over 2014 and 46 percent higher than second-place Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, where a square foot of space costs $2,399.

The "Main Streets Across the World" report looks at the top 500 retail streets across the globe. This was the 27th edition of the report, which shows that rents have risen in 35 percent of the top 500 streets across the globe.

Los Angeles' Rodeo Drive corridor had the highest retail rents outside of New York at $800 per sq. ft. Chicago's Michigan Avenue had average retail rents of $525 per sq. ft.

The top 10 retail corridors in the world:

1. Fifth Avenue (New York) - $3,500/sq. ft./year

2. Causeway Bay (Hong Kong) - $2,399/ sq. ft./year

3. Avenue des Champs Élysées (Paris) - $1,372/sq. ft./year

4. New Bond Street (London) - $1,321/sq. ft./year

5. Via Montenapoleone (Milan) - $1,035/sq. ft./year

6. Bahnhofstrasse (Zurich) - $894.6/sq. ft./year

7. The Ginza (Tokyo) - $881.9/sq. ft./year

8. Myeongdong (Seoul) - $881.8/sq. ft./year

9. Kohlmarket (Vienna) - $478.2/sq. ft./year

10. Kaufinger / Neuhauser (Munich) - $459.6/sq. ft./year

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