Retail asking rents for direct space on prime Fifth Avenue fell nearly 20 percent at the start of 2018 from a year before, according to a new report from Cushman & Wakefield.
Direct space from landlords on the city’s priciest retail stretch from 49th to 60th streets on Fifth Avenue was asking an average of $2,592 per square foot during the first quarter of the year, Cushman’s data show. That’s down 18.7 percent for $3,188 per square foot during the first three months of 2017.
When sublease space was factored in, Upper Fifth Avenue’s average asking rent for the quarter was $2,786 per square foot, down 10.8 percent from a year earlier.
Out of the 11 Manhattan shopping districts that Cushman tracks, all but one saw asking rents decline over the past year.
Only the Meatpacking District saw asking rents increase, climbing 5.1 percent year-over-year to $371 per square foot. Soho saw a 12.7 percent drop, down to $426 per square foot, the report showed.