Bond Street UK's most expensive shopping street

New Bond Street in London's Mayfair has overtaken Oxford Street for the first time in 20 years to become the UK's most expensive retail street according to this year's Main Streets Across The World report from Cushman & Wakefield. The annual report tracks the amount retailers will pay to guarantee their position on the world's most prestigious retail streets. Demand for the cachet of a New Bond Street flagship store and address has fuelled a 25% increase in rents in the last 12 months.

Globally the cost of retail space has gone up by an average of 8% over the past year with New York's Fifth Avenue being the world's most expensive retail street. Rents have risen by 36.8% in the past year with retailers now having to spend US$13,993 per square metre per annum. "The international race for space is continuing unabated. A growing number of global brands are vying for limited space on the pavements of the world's top shopping destinations, whether Paris's Avenue des Champs Elysées or London's New Bond Street. This in turn is pushing up rents," says Darren Yates, Cushman & Wakefield's head of market analysis.

Main Streets Across the World tracks retail rents in the world's top 237 shopping streets across 47 countries around the world. The report's global league table is drawn up by taking the most expensive location in each of the countries monitored. The report also covers main UK retail streets in Birmingham, Cardiff, Croydon, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle. In second position globally, after New York's Fifth Avenue, is Causeway Bay in Hong Kong which this year has leapfrogged Paris' Avenue des Champs Elysées now in third place. London's New Bond Street is in fourth position followed by Tokyo's Ginza.

The biggest rental rises in Europe have been in Købmagergade in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, where rents have gone up 40% in local currency terms. Rents in Budapest's main Váci utca high street, Moscow's Novy Arbat Street and London's New Bond Street have all gone up 25%. New Bond Street is home to retailers including Armani, Chanel, Bulgari, Asprey, Nicole Farhi, Hermes, Mulberry, Jimmy Choo, Burberry, Donna Karan, Louis Vuitton, Chopard, Van Cleef & Arpels, Graff, Ralph Lauren, Cartier, Emanual Ungaro, Loewe, Pringle of Scotland, Fenwick and D&G.