Tsim Sha Tsui Takes No. 3 Spot On List Of World’s Most Expensive Retail Destinations

Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui’s main street shops placed third on a list of the world’s priciest shopping destinations for 2023. The retail spaces in the area are priced at US$1,493 (approximately HK$ 11,640) per square foot. Tsim Sha Tsui also tops the list of most expensive retail venues in the Asia-Pacific region, followed by Causeway Bay in the No. 2 spot at US$1,374 (approximately HK$10,710) per square foot, and Central at No. 7 at US$ (approximately HK$5,245) per square foot.

According to the study, called the Main Streets Across the World report, Asia Pacific led the world in 2023 in terms of retail rents, which rose by 5.3%, a marked improvement on the 1.1% growth the region experienced the previous year. Apart from Hong Kong, five other cities in the region are in the top half of the report’s list of the 25 most expensive main streets in the world: Tokyo’s Ginza (No. 6), Seoul’s Myeongdong (No. 9), Shanghai’s West Nanjing Road (No. 11), Singapore’s Orchard Road (No. 12), and Ho Chi Minh City’s Dong Khoi (No. 13)

However, Tsim Sha Tsui dropped one place in the study’s global rankings from last year, while Central also slid down one spot in the Asia-Pacific list. Hopng Kong’s real estate market is also in a downturn, with the 2023 Asia Pacific Home Attainability Index stating that the territory’s private housing market has reverted to 2017 levels, making it the second-most expensive city in the APAC to buy private homes.

In addition, while a study puts Hong Kong as the world’s most unaffordable housing market, the decline in its affordability ratio was the highest among the nearly 100 cities included in the report, due to factors such as Covid-19, the resulting economic slump, and rising interest rates.

Header image credits: Ivan Lau via Flickr