Calea Victoriei in downtown Bucharest has climbed two spots to 38th place among the world's most expensive commercial streets, according to Cushman & Wakefield's Main Streets Across the World report. Rents in the Romanian capital recorded the 7th highest growth among the 138 analyzed markets worldwide.

Calea Victoriei, the main retail street in Bucharest, boasts a prime rental level of EUR 60/sqm/month, 9% higher than last year. This places the Romanian capital 38th worldwide and 23rd in Europe, on par with Ljubljana.

Rents in Prague (EUR 225/sqm/month), Budapest (EUR 140/sqm/month), Belgrade (EUR 90/sqm/month), Warsaw (EUR 86/sqm/month), and Zagreb (EUR 70/sqm/month) were above the Bucharest benchmark.

Meanwhile, lower values were recorded in Sofia (EUR 57/sqm/month), Bratislava (EUR 45/sqm/month), Vilnius (EUR 37/sqm/month), Riga (EUR 35/sqm/month), or Skopje (EUR 28/sqm/month).

Dana Radoveneanu, Head of Retail Agency at Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, commented: "Luxury retail in Bucharest continues to evolve, reflecting regional and global trends. Calea Victoriei, the main retail street in Romania, has seen a 9% increase in rents over the past year, one of the highest rates worldwide, indicating growing interest from international retailers. However, rents for premium spaces remain below the levels recorded in other Central European capital cities, such as Prague or Budapest."

"This dynamic, combined with a global slowdown of the luxury brands' revenue growth, highlights both the economic challenges and opportunities, which the Bucharest market can leverage in the coming years. There are already developers present in Romania who are betting on the growing interest of luxury brands towards the country and who are building retail facilities targeting this retail segment," she added.

Milan's Via Montenapoleone (EUR 1,667/sqm/month) overtook New York City's Fifth Avenue (EUR 1,628/sqm/month) as the world's most expensive retail destination The change marks Europe's first time at the top in the report's history, which reached the 34th edition. 

Other changes occurred in relation to the 3rd place, with London's New Bond Street leapfrogging Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, pushing the latter to the 4th spot, despite positive rental growth this year. 

Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris retained the 5th position, but the gap to 6th narrowed, following a 25% y-o-y rental growth in Tokyo's Ginza district.

In global terms, rents across the 138 tracked locations have crossed another benchmark, now being, on average, nearly 6% above pre-pandemic levels, thanks to a strong y-o-y growth of over 4%.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Alexandru Arhire/Dreamstime.com)