Hong Kong remains pricest retail space in Asia

Hong Kong's Central district is Asia's most expensive shopping area, with street-front retail space costing $775 per square foot a year to rent.Central beat Causeway Bay, Hong Kong's traditional shopping district and last year's number one, and Tokyo's Ginza, this year's second-most expensive shopping area in Asia.

The Central district ranked seventh worldwide after New York's Fifth Avenue, Paris's Champs Elysees, Moscow's Tverskaya, London's Bond Street and Oxford Street and Dublin's Grafton Street.

Since the arrival in Central last year of Swedish chain Hennes & Mauritz AB, overseas retailers have sought space in the area to boost brand awareness among affluent mainland Chinese visitors.