Italy: Via Montenapoleone in Milan is World’s Most Expensive Street

Via Montenapoleone in Milan becomes the most expensive luxury shopping street in the world for the first time, with rents of 20,000 euros per square meter per year. This conclusion was reached by the authors of the new, 34th edition of the report entitled “Main Streets Across the World 2024,” created by the consulting real estate agency Cushman & Wakefield. The authors of the report emphasized that “this is also the first time that a European city has risen to the top step of the podium in the world ranking.”

The Cushman & Wakefield study tracks the retail landscape in 138 urban areas around the world, mostly in the luxury goods sector, based on the rental value of commercial space. In recent years, Via Montenapoleone has steadily risen in the ranking of most expensive commercial space and climbed to second place in 2023. Rents have risen 11% in the past 12 months (+30% over the past two years) to €20,000 per square meter per year, just above the €19,537 per square meter per year at Upper 5th Avenue in New York City, which has held the record for the past two years. According to analysts, “in addition to continued strong demand from retailers in the face of very limited supply, Via Montenapoleone also benefited from the rising rate of the euro against the US dollar.”

New Bond Street in London returns to third place in the world (17,210 euros per square meter per year), overtaking Tsim Sha Tsui (15,697 euros per square meter per year), Hong Kong’s main shopping street. The Champs-Elysees in Paris, with a 10% annual growth rate, retained fifth place, followed by Tokyo’s Ginza district, where rents rose 25% year-on-year in 2024.

In the European ranking, which includes more than one street per country, Via Condotti and Piazza di Spagna in Rome ranked third and tenth, respectively, confirming the importance of Italy in the world of retail in Europe: three Italian streets are in the top 10 of the ranking. The Cushman & Wakefield report emphasizes that “competitive tension between high demand and low supply was reflected in annual rent growth in 57%, or 79 of 138 locations surveyed.” Globally, the average rent growth was 4.4 percent.

According to Joachim Sandberg (pictured), CEO of Cushman &Wakefield Italia, “Starting with Expo 2015, Milan has positioned itself among the most important European capitals able to attract new investments, new tourists, new residents. In the luxury goods sector, which in Italy represents an important supply chain in terms of related industries and turnover, it has now gained undisputed supremacy, as evidenced by this result. However, to maintain this appeal in the long term, Milan must turn this record into tangible value for the entire community, bringing benefit and added value to all stakeholders.”

According to Thomas Casolo, responsible for the Italian retail sector at Cushman & Wakefield, Milan “has certainly become a global brand synonymous with luxury, but let’s not forget that Via Montenapoleone is unique and that on the same street you can find very rental options, depending on the commercial characteristics of the store. The opening of new stores in the most popular area of the quadrangle, between Via Verri and Via Sant’Andrea, has certainly influenced not only the current location, 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 over the last year it has become the place to be for luxury brands.”