Ermou leases still costly
Ermou Street in central Athens may have slipped just outside the world’s top 10 expensive commercial streets, according to the yearly survey by Cushman & Wakefield, but this is not due to the decline in leases, which resist at the relatively high level of 2,641 euros/sq.m. per year, or 220 euros per month. Ermou takes 11th spot, down from seventh last year, because of huge lease rises in Asia’s commercial streets, mirroring the region’s economic recovery and real estate market’s reflation. Also, impressive rent increases in Dublin, Madrid and Moscow have pushed Ermou out of the top 10 for the first time in the last three years. Topping the chart is New York’s Fifth Avenue once again; its average lease is at 8,406 euros/sq.m. per year, considerably higher than last year’s 7,967 euros/sq.m. The positioning of the top four is unchanged, with Paris’s Avenue des Champs Elysees second (6,287), Causeway Bay in Hong Kong third (5,036, showing a 7.5 percent increase) and London’s Oxford Street fourth (4,573). Tokyo’s Ginza area recorded a staggering 49 percent increase, moving from the 15th to the 9th spot, above Ermou. According to Cushman & Wakefield’s survey, the lease rise across Europe reached an average rate of 4.8 percent in the past year. Eurozone countries showed a 5 percent rise, with emerging Central and Eastern European states at 4.1 percent. Dublin leads the way in Europe with a 35 percent increase in lease rates in its Grafton Street, capturing the fifth spot with 3,372 euros/sq.m. Among Central and Eastern European cities Moscow leads the way, with Tverskaya Street earning Ermou’s place last year, by posting a 13.1 percent rise (2,877 euros/sq.m.). Referring to the Greek street, the report underscores the stability lease rates show, as well as the fact that for a long time Ermou has maintained the same mix of retailers, led by the clothing, shoes, cosmetics and houseware sectors.
