- In Spain, Bilbao's Gran Vía occupies the 9th position, with incomes of 1,500€/m2/year
- Barcelona's street, Passeig de Gràcia, climbs one place to 16th position in the world, with a prime rent of €3,180/m²/year, in a ranking that analyzes the most expensive shopping streets in the world.
- Milan's Via Montenapoleone becomes for the first time the first European street to lead the ranking, surpassing New York's Fifth Avenue.
- In Spain, the podium is led by Passeig de Gràcia (Barcelona) with €3,180/m2/year; in second position, Calle Serrano (Madrid), with rents of €3,060/m2/year; and Portal de l'Àngel (Barcelona) and Gran Vía (Madrid) in a shared third position, with €3,000/m2/year.
Passeig de Gràcia, in Barcelona, reaffirms its position as the shopping street with the highest rents in Spain, according to the 34th edition of Cushman & Wakefield's Global Main Streets Across the World report. This report, which analyses prime shopping street rents in 92 cities around the world, highlights the constant appeal of Barcelona's street, which this year rises from 17th to 16th place in the world ranking, with a prime rent of €3,180/m²/year – an increase of 6% compared to the previous year.
Passeig de Gràcia is home to prestigious luxury brands such as Dior, Versace, Loewe and Prada, with a dynamism and relevance that clearly consolidate it as one of the most emblematic prime shopping streets globally. Calle Serrano, in Madrid, follows closely, with rents of €3,060/m2/year, which represents an increase of 4% compared to the previous year. This growth is driven by large luxury firms, which have contributed to the recovery of maximum rents, positioning Serrano at number 28 in the ranking at European level, only one position behind Passeig de Gràcia (27).
Beyond these two cities, the Gran Vía in Bilbao stands out, which occupies the 9th position in the ranking in Spain with rents of €1,500/m2/year, 4% above the previous year.
In Spain, they complete the podium, in a shared third position and with a prime income of €3,000/m2/year, Portal de l'Àngel, in Barcelona, and Gran Vía, in Madrid. After these, the most expensive shopping streets are Preciados, in Madrid (€2,940/m2/year), in fourth position, and José Ortega y Gasset, also in Madrid (€2,880/m2/year), in fifth. Further of these two cities, Marqués de Larios streets, in Malaga, stand out (6th position with €2,400/m2/year); Fuencarral, in Madrid (7th position with €2,100/m2/year); Colón, in Valencia, (8th position with €1,560/m2/year); the Gran Vía in Bilbao and Tetuán, in Seville, (which share the 9th position with €1,500/m2/year); Goya, in Madrid (in 10th position, with 1,440€/m2/year); Pelayo Street in Barcelona (in 11th position, with €1,380/m2/year); Jaime III in Palma de Mallorca (12th position, with €1,260/m2/year); Plaza de la Independencia, in Zaragoza, sharing 13th position, with €1,020/m2/year, with Rambla Catalunya and Avenida Diagonal, both in Barcelona; and, finally, Portaferrisa in Barcelona (with €960 million). €/m2/year).
Via Montenapoleone: the most expensive street in the world
The 34th edition of the Main Streets Across the World report points for the first time to a European street as the most expensive in the world. This is the Italian Via Montenapoleone, in Milan, which has recorded rents of €20,000/m2/year, with an increase of 11% compared to the same period of the previous year. This year, the second position is occupied by Fifth Avenue in New York with a rent of €19,537/m2/year. After an increase of 13%, the third position is occupied by the famous New Bond Street, in London, with a prime rent of 17,210
€/m2/year, which has ousted the luxurious Tsim Sha of Hong Kong from the podium, which falls from third to fourth position globally with rents of €15,697/m2/year. The Top 5 is completed by the Parisian Champs Elysees (€12,519/m2/year), which has increased by 10% compared to the same period last year.
In this sense, the data from the latest Cushman & Wakefield report shows how retailers around the world continue to bet on having a physical presence of their brands in iconic and superprime locations worldwide, which are characterized by high competition for space and a very limited supply.
Robert Travers, Head of Retail EMEA at Cushman & Wakefield, said:
"Brands are betting on physical stores in the best locations in the world. This is due to competition to capture the attention of consumers, driving the need of a superior shopping experience, as well as a better product display and in-store experience." He adds that "while e-commerce plays a huge role in an omnichannel strategy, the physical representation of the brand is what really establishes a bond with customers. As a result, availability on prime streets remains exceptionally low, resulting in high prime rents that retailers are willing to pay to secure and maintain their space."
The new era of retail
Luxury brand retailers want to expand and open new flagship stores, but the number of locations available for these types of stores has hardly changed. As a result, availability rates remain exceptionally low, thus driving prime income growth. In this line, the report points out that, at the same time, beyond the luxury sector, retailers from other segments also continue to bet on superprime shopping streets; this has led to a growth of sports, cosmetics and wellness brands that compete for space on these streets.
As a result of this competitive tension over limited space, year-on-year rent growth has occurred in more than half of the 138 streets analysed, some of which have shown significant increases. In this sense, prime rents globally have increased in 57% of the locations analysed – that is, in 79 streets globally – which has led to a global average year-on-year increase of 4.4%. Thus, 29% of the remaining streets (40 locations) have remained unchanged, while only 14% of the locations (19 streets) have experienced a decrease in their rents.
In terms of rent growth, the Americas was the best-performing region, growing at 8.5%, driven by an increase in rents of nearly 11% in the United States, more than double the 5.2% recorded last year. For their part, Europe and Asia-Pacific continued with growth of 3.5% and 3.1%, respectively. Thus, on average, rents in the 138 locations are now almost 6% above pre-pandemic levels globally, in Europe they are very close to pre-Covid levels.
In this line, Robert Travers maintains:
"This year, retail has entered a new era; We have clearly seen how retail has been able to adapt and evolve in accordance with changing macroeconomic conditions and buyer demands, demonstrating great resilience and consolidating the attractiveness of physical retail."
Tourism boosts superprime trade
Tourism, and especially international tourism, is a significant driver of performance for superprime retail destinations. While there are inevitably variations locally, approximately 40% to 50% of luxury purchases are made while traveling. And the benefits extend beyond the luxury sector, as tourists also spend on other retail segments and leisure activities, contributing to the overall vitality of these locations.
This year, between January and July, 790 million tourists traveled globally, representing an almost complete return to 2019 levels, and only 4% less in international tourism receipts compared to 2023. Taken together, these factors point to a full recovery in international tourism in the second half of 2024, with full-year passenger arrivals forecast to be 2% above 2019 levels. Additional growth is also expected in 2025, with a global increase in tourists projected at almost 13% year-on-year, led by Asia-Pacific, but with strong support from all regions.
Along the same lines, between January and September 2024, Spain received 73.9 million international tourists, which represents an increase of 10.9% compared to the same period in 2023. Of this total, 88.2% of visitors arrived for leisure purposes, consolidating tourism as an essential driver of the Spanish economy.
The main countries of origin of tourists to Spain during this period were the United Kingdom, with an increase of 5.3%; France, with a remarkable growth of 14.3%; and Germany, which registered an increase of 1.1% compared to the previous year.
In addition, total spending by international tourists reached 99,086 million euros in the first nine months of 2024, marking a year-on-year growth of 16.9%.
