Study: Bucharest’s Calea Victoriei, 40th among world’s most expensive commercial streets

Bucharest's Calea Victoriei remains in 40th place in the ranking of the world's 50 most expensive commercial streets for this year and holds the 50th position out of 57 in the European ranking, in terms of commercial space rent, just after Ljubljana, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.

The rent level on Calea Victoriei is of EUR 55 per sqm per month, behind Ljubljana. In Prague, Budapest, Zagreb, and Belgrade the rents are above the level in Bucharest, a lower value being recorded in Sofia, Bratislava, Vilnius, Riga, or Skopje.

New York’s Fifth Avenue has maintained its position as the world’s most expensive retail street, with Milan’s Via Montenapoleone climbing to second in the global rankings, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest ‘Main Streets Across the World’ report. The 33rd edition of the report reveals that retail rents on Via Montenapoleone grew 20% over the past year to USD 1,766 per sq ft per year to displace Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui which dropped to third after a more modest 4% rental growth to USD 1,493 per sq ft per year. Rents at Fifth Avenue held steady at USD 2,000 per sq ft per year.

Europe has three of the top five most expensive retail streets globally, with London’s New Bond Street in fourth and Avenues des Champs-Élysées in Paris fifth respectively, and five of the top 10.

“Calea Victoriei in Bucharest is the only Romanian location included in the report, representing the most expensive retail street on the local market. The availability of spaces suitable for the opening of luxury stores remains extremely limited in this area of Bucharest, but the proximity to Calea Victoriei has become a magnet for premium hotel brands amid the revival of tourism in this post-pandemic context, a positive factor that could influence the need for modern high street retail spaces in the near future,” said Dana Radoveneanu, head of Retail Agency Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

As the world continues to emerge from the impacts of the global pandemic, prime retail destinations similarly have continued their rebound, recording mostly positive rental growth over the past year. Rents across global prime retail destinations increased on average by 4.8% in local currency terms over the past year. The strongest growth was recorded in Asia Pacific, which averaged 5.3%, with the Americas at 5.2% and Europe at 4.2%.

“Even as concerns over consumers cutting discretionary spending have been affecting the economy, retailers have been securing or enhancing flagship stores in key markets. These stores are a critical part of a brand’s retail equation. They are the physical embodiment of the brand, something that is very hard to curate in an online environment,” said Rob Travers, head of EMEA Retail at Cushman & Wakefield.

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