Customers enter the Vuitton store on the Avenue des Champs Elysée in Paris on March 15, 2009. Rents on the shopping district are the third most expensive in the world, Cushman Wakefield said Tuesday. (Christophe Ena/Associated Press)

The average price to rent space in some of the world's most exclusive shopping districts dropped by the largest amount on record last year, a global survey has found.

Some 54 per cent of the 274 luxury retail strips covered under real estate consultancy Cushman Wakefield's annual survey of retail rents dropped during the past year. Only in 18 places did rents increase this year.

The Main Streets Across the World report is a barometer of high-level retail activity in 60 countries across the globe.

"The last 12 months have been one of the most difficult periods ever for the retail sector," said John Strachan, head of Cushman's retail unit. "There will undoubtedly be some markets which will continue to be affected over the next year but we expect to see a greater number move back into positive territory."

Topping the list for the eighth straight year, New York's Fifth Avenue remains the world's most expensive street where retailers can expect to pay $1,700 US per square foot per year, a decline of 8.1 per cent from 2008 levels.

The average price of a single square foot of retail space on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue cost $1,700 this year, real estate consultancy Cushman Wakefield said Tuesday. That's an 8.1 per cent decline from 2008. (Mark Lennihan/Associated Press)

Rents in Canada fell by 10 to 15 per cent over the last year. The average rent on Bloor Street in Toronto was unchanged at $300 per square foot, but Queen Street West rents fell 15.4 per cent to $110 per square foot. Rent on Robson Street in Vancouver, at $210 per square foot, was down 12.5 per cent. Rents on Calgary's 17th Ave. SW dropped 23.1 per cent to $50 per square foot.

Hong Kong's Causeway Bay and Paris's Avenue des Champs Elysée maintain their positions at second and third respectively.

Munich's Kaufingerstrasse was the biggest riser toward the top of the list, moving from 12th to ninth with a 7.1 per cent increase in rents. German consumer spending has been surprisingly resilient and sentiment has improved since early spring, the report noted.

Ireland's Grafton Street was the biggest faller in the top 10, moving from fifth to eighth with prime rents falling 22.5 per cent. The tony Dublin shopping district entered the top five for the first time last year.

Globally, the biggest increase in rents was in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with rents at Alameda Lorena and Iguatemi Shopping rising 111 per cent and 79.3 per cent, respectively.

In Asia, at 50 per cent Ho Chi Minh City's CBD had the biggest increase, and in Europe, Rue St. Catherine in Bordeaux, France, had the biggest increase, at 17.6 per cent.

On the flip side, the biggest fall in rents was in Mumbai with Colaba Causeway falling 63.5 per cent. In the Americas, rents in Rio de Janeiro's Sao Conrado Fashion Mall fell 53.4 per cent while in Europe, Bucharest's Calea Victoriei fell 48.1 per cent from 2008 levels.