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Retail Outlets On Secondary Streets Are Getting More Expensive
1 April 2016 – Expansión
Secondary commercial streets in Madrid and Barcelona are increasing in value and becoming an alternative to the traditional main streets, which often have low rates of availability and prohibitively expensive rents.
According to a study by Cushman & Wakefield, rather than opening stores in smaller cities, major brands prefer to expand their businesses into secondary streets in the main cities such as Madrid and Barcelona. According to the consultancy firm, in 2016, rental prices will increase by the most in these secondary streets, where prices have been stable and in some cases, have even decreased, in recent years.
The best example of this trend has been observed on Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona, which after a major regeneration has widened the size of its pavements, and so now represents a viable alternative to the main streets such as Paseo de Gràcia and Rambla Catalunya. In the renewed section of this shopping street, rents rose by 33% in 2015 to amount to an average of €55/m2/month.
La Diagonal thereby ranks in third place on the list of shopping streets in Europe where prices have increased the most, behind Via Montenapoleone, in Milán, (41.2%) and Via Condotti, in Roma, (37.5%).
The study also reveals a recovery in the rents of retail premises in other secondary cities in Spain, although in this case, for the time being, those increases have only been seen in the prime shopping streets. The greatest increases have been recorded in those cities that benefit from tourist with high purchasing power, such as Palma de Mallorca, Puerto Banús, Sevilla and Valencia.
Cushman & Wakefield includes retail premises from the main cities in Spain amongst the main focuses for European investment, alongside Germany, Sweden and Portugal.
Original story: Expansión (by M. Anglés)
Translation: Carmel Drake