Ho Chi Minh City is the second most expensive retail location in Southeast Asia

A downtown spot costs $150 a square feet a year, even more than prime locations in Bangkok. A global property survey has named Ho Chi Minh City downtown as one of the most expensive retail locations worldwide.

The southern metropolis, which is the largest commercial center in Vietnam, ranks 32 out of 65 cities featured in the latest version of Cushman & Wakefield’s annual research “Main Streets Across the World.”

Locations on a “prime high street” in the city, such as Le Loi, Nguyen Hue or Dong Khoi, cost an average of US$150 a square feet a year. In Southeast Asia, that rate is after Singapore’s $336.8.

That compares to $125.4 in Bangkok, $111.3 in Kuala Lumpur and only $56.4 in Metro Manila.

It is equal to the rent in Israel’s Tel Aviv, whose GDP per capital in 2014 was $42,614 and more than eight times that of Ho Chi Minh City.

The world’s most expensive road, according to the research, is Upper 5th Avenue in New York, followed by main streets in Hong Kong, Paris and London.

Streets in Tokyo and Seoul are also in the top ten.