Ermou, the main shopping hotspot in downtown Athens, has maintained its position as one of the most expensive high streets in the world, according to a report by global real estate agency Cushman & Wakefield.
The leading company published the 33rd edition of its annual “Main Streets Across the World” survey, which gathers data to work out the cost of renting spaces on famous retail streets around the world. Ermou is currently in 15th place.
According to the study, Upper Fifth Avenue in New York is the undisputed winner once again with an average monthly rent of 1,699 euros per square meter. Milan’s Via Montenapoleone is this year’s runner-up at 1,500 euros per sq. m., pushing Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui into third place (1,268 euros per sq. m.). London’s New Bond Street (1,242 euro per sq. m.) and Paris’s Champs-Élysées (951 euros per sq. m.) remained in fourth and fifth place.
In 2023, rent on Ermou’s first 500 meters costs up to 290 euro per sq. m. per month, a 5 percent increase on last year’s figures. Results would indicate that the rental sector has completely recovered from the effects of the pandemic, with current figures two percent up on 2019.
Ermou street has managed to make the top ten in the past; prior to the financial crisis of 2008, monthly rents had reached 360 euro per sq. m.
Given its immense attractiveness and the limited shop space available, competition for a spot on the street is intense. Most recently, sports-retail players Adidas, Nike and Intersport, which have all opened stores along the street, have been going “sneaker to sneaker” to attract shoppers’ attention, with rent for Nike’s impressive flagship store at the very start of the street supposedly reaching six figures a month.
