Move over New York: Hong Kong now boasts world's most expensive shopping street

Move over New York, Hong Kong is now home to the most expensive shopping street in the world. New York's Fifth Avenue, home of Tiffany & Co and Trump Tower, has been toppled from its perch - a spot it has held for 11 years.

The shopping destinations list, compiled by property agents Cushman & Wakefield, tracks how much rent is paid for shops across the world.

Hong Kong Island's Causeway Bay area saw its rent rocket by nearly 35 per cent in the last year to $2,630 per square foot a year.

European and US brand names including Louis Vuitton and Burberry all have shops in the shoppers haven - one of the most densely built up locations on the island where rents continue to increase as retailers fight it out to open new shops.

Chinese mainland shoppers come by the coach-load to shop in duty free Hong Kong. Michele Woo, a senior director at Cushman & Wakefield in Hong Kong, said: "The highlight of Asia this year was Hong Kong where we saw prime rents surge by 21.8 per cent as a result of a strong demand from a diverse group of international retailers."

But growth in top rents was not just in Asia. Paris' Avenue des Champs-Élysées beat Ginza in Tokyo to third place, with rents jumping 30 per cent.

London's Bond Street remained in sixth position with its rent growing 3.1 per cent over the year.

John Strachan, head of global retail at Cushman & Wakefield, said: "There has been the usual jostling for the top positions between Hong Kong and New York but the real message here is the unfaltering advance of the top global cities, fuelled by a shortage of supply and the interest of international brands."

South America was the strongest rental growth region, with prime rents up by 11.6 per cent. Cushman & Wakefield studied 326 prime locations in 62 countries, with 147 reporting an increase in rent.