Bond Street has the highest rents of any shopping destination in Europe, overtaking Milan, new research has revealed.
Mayfair’s premier luxury retail address now has indicative prime rents of €15,333 per sq m ( £1,225.55 per sq ft), up 20% in 2024, according to property consultants Savills.
It was the fastest growth seen since the start of the pandemic suggesting the worst of the slowdown in luxury spending may have passed.
Openings included a New Bond Street flagship from French label Moncler.
The trend has continued into 2025 with Watches of Switzerland opening a four-story Rolex flagship store on Old Bond Street .
Other brands planning store launches this year include Carolina Herrera , Rimowa, Loro Piana, Abel Richard, and Kettle Kids
Bond Street overtook Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone (€15,000 per sq m), which held the top spot in 2023, although there is little between them.
Globally Bond Street moved from fourth to third place behind only New York’s Fifth Avenue, where rents are €26,000 per sq m, and Madison Avenue, also in the Big Apple.
Globally there was a 12% increase in new store openings at the world’s top 21 luxury shopping hotspots, following a marked slowdown in 2023.
Three quarters of them reported steady or annual increases in prime headline rents.
China remained the powerhouse, accounting for 40% of all new openings globally – with a 10% year-on-year increase, although this is down from a 41% global share in 2023.
Anthony Selwyn, co-head of global retail at Savills, said: “In the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, with reduced international travel, we saw brands increasingly focus on large, affluent, relatively underserved domestic markets. And while this trend will continue, we will see our core luxury markets become increasingly more competitive, with building quality and pitch being of the upmost importance.
“As a consequence, upward pressure on prime rents in these markets will continue, albeit growth will slow, with availability of space becoming more constrained.”
Marie Hickey, director in commercial research at Savills, added: “The stabilisation in the luxury market’s performance that started to materialise at the end of 2024 will become more entrenched as this year progresses. Weakened consumer sentiment in the US and China, however, will weigh on growth, and will shape real estate investment, with the focus over the short term to remain on the best opportunities.”
