Calea Victoriei was up two positions to 38th place, in the ranking of the most expensive commercial streets across the world.

“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,” says Dana Radoveneanu, Head of Retail Agency Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Rents in Prague (€225/sqm/month), Budapest (€140/sqm/month), Belgrade (€90/sqm/ month), Warsaw (€86/sqm/month) and Zagreb (€70/sqm/month) were above the Bucharest benchmark. Lower values were recorded in Sofia (€57/sqm/month), Bratislava (€45/sqm/ month), Vilnius (€37/sqm/month), Riga (€35/sqm/month) or Skopje (€28/sqm/month).

At the same time, Milan's Via Montenapoleone (€1,667/sqm/month) overtook New York City's Fifth Avenue as the world's most expensive retail destination. This change marks Europe's first time at the top in the report's history.

The Americas continues to be the strongest performing region, propelled by rental growth of almost 11% y-o-y in the U.S. - a significant increase from last year. In comparison, rental growth in Europe and Asia Pacific slowed, registering hikes of 3.5% and 3.1%, down from 4.2% and 5.3% (last year's performance), respectively.