How Hong Kong lost its world No 1 spot for luxury shopping: Manhattan’s Upper Fifth Avenue in New York overtook Tsim Sha Tsui as the city’s strict Covid-19 measures continue to deter tourists
Hong Kong no longer has the world’s most expensive retail district after rents plummeted due to Covid-19 curbs and restrictions on visitors.
Annual rents for Upper Fifth Avenue shops averaged US$2,000 per sq ft, up 14 per cent from pre-pandemic levels, according to the report. Rents in Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon fell 41 per cent to US$1,436 per sq ft in the period, while those in Via Montenapoleone rose 9 per cent to US$1,380.
Strict ongoing Covid-19 measures
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The Americas were the most resilient region, largely due to the US, with average rents now 15 per cent above pre-pandemic levels, the report said. In Asia, they dropped by an average 17 per cent because of border closures, it said.
Tsim Sha Tsui overtook Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay district as the city’s most- expensive retail district, according to the survey, which tracks the top retail districts across 92 cities and ranks the priciest by prime rental value.
Causeway Bay held the world’s top spot in 2018, when it displaced Upper Fifth Avenue for the first time in five years, according to the survey.
- According to a survey by Cushman & Wakefield Plc, Hong Kong has been replaced by New York’s Upper Fifth Avenue as the world’s most expensive retail district
- Tsim Sha Tsui overtook Causeway Bay and comes in second, followed by Italy’s Via Montenapoleone, London’s New Bond Street and Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris
