The rent of shops at Sofia's pedestrian Vitosha boulevard posted highest increase in Europe, shows a survey of the Colliers International consultancy. 

In the end of Q1 2014, the average rent rose by 48% year-on-year to EUR 37 per sq/m and has returned to the levels of the years before the significant drop of 2012-2013, says the report. 

In 2005 Vitosha boulevard was the 22-nd most expensive commercial street in the world, according the list of the  Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker. The economic downturn and the construction of the Sofia metro, which practically shut down the boulevard, brought it down to the 59-th position in the same list. 

The Colliers report finds that the profile of the tenants along boulevard has changed – the luxurious brands have moved to the Saborna and Lege streets and the new shopping malls, while Vitosha is increasingly preferred by bar and restaurant owners and fashion brands of lower price category. 

The most expensive commercial street in Europe is Old Bond Street in London, where the average monthlu rent is EUR 908 per sq/m, followed by Banhofstrasse in Zurich and Champs Elysees in Paris.

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