Via Montenapoleone passes New York’s 5th Avenue. Now it is the most expensive street in the world

Via Montenapoleone in Milan becomes for the first time the most expensive luxury shopping street in the world with prime rents of 20,000 euros per square meter per year. This is what emerges from the ‘Main Streets Across the World’ report created by Cushman & Wakefield, now in its 34th edition. It is also the first time that a European city reaches the top step of the podium in the global ranking.

The report monitors 138 urban retail locations around the world mainly luxury, based on the value of prime rents. Via Montenapoleone has steadily climbed the rankings in recent years, reaching second place for the first time in 2023. In the last 12 months rents have increased by 11% (+30% in the last two years), reaching 20,000 euros per m2 per year, slightly higher than the 19,537 euro m2/year of Upper 5th Avenue in New York, stable for two years. In addition to continued strong demand from retailers in a context of limited supply, Via Montenapoleone has also benefited from the appreciation of the euro against the US dollar.

New Bond Street, a Londraregains third place in the world (17,210 euros m2/year) by surpassing Tsim Sha Tsui (15,697 euros m2/year), the main shopping street in Hong Kong. With annual growth of 10%, theAvenue des Champs èlysées of Paris retained fifth place, although the district of Ginza a Tokyo narrowed the gap with a 25% year-over-year increase.

In the European ranking, which includes more than one road per country, Via Condotti and Piazza di Spagna in Rome they placed third and tenth, confirming the importance of Italy in the world of retail in Europe: three Italian streets are in the top 10 of the ranking. The competitive tension between strong demand and low supply was reflected in year-over-year rental growth in 57% (79) of the 138 locations monitored. In particular, there was an average growth of 4.4% in rents globally.

The region of Americas was the best performer with an increase of 8.5%driven by rent growth of nearly 11% in the United States – more than double the 5.2% recorded last year – followed by Europe and Asia Pacific at 3.5% and 3.1% respectively.

“Milan has certainly become a global brand synonymous with luxury, but let’s not forget that Via Montenapoleone is unique and that in the same street there are a variety of rental values, depending on the commercial characteristics of the store. The current positioning has certainly had an impact on opening of new shops in the most sought-after area of ​​the quadrilateral, between via Verri and via Sant’Andrea but also the size of the street: it is concentrated in a very small space, unlike other cities such as London, Paris and New York, and in The last year has become the Place To Be for luxury brands”, commented Thomas Casolo, Head of Retail Italy and Co Head Luxury at Cushman&Wakefield.

For Joachim Sandberg, CEO of Cushman&Wakefield Italia, “Since Expo 2015, Milan has been positioning itself among the most important European capitals, capable of attracting new investments, new tourists, new residents. In the luxury sector, which in Italy represents an important supply chain in terms of related activities and turnover, has now earned an indisputable record, also demonstrated by this result. However, to maintain this attractiveness in the long term, Milan must transform this record into tangible value for the entire community, generating. benefits and added value for all stakeholders involved”.