Retailers on the hunt for new cities in which to drop roots consider Toronto among their top-20 options. Canada’s largest city ranked 17th in an annual survey of the world’s most desirable retail markets.

The 2013 edition of “How Global is the Business of Retail?”, conducted by the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm CBRE, named Hong Kong the world’s most attractive metropolis for retail expansion (Kiev, Berlin, Singapore and Dubai round out the top five). In 2012, 51 new retail organizations made entrees into Hong Kong. Toronto, meanwhile, attracted 15 newcomers to its retail scene last year. Its results align the city with retail activity in Ho Chi Minh City and Moscow.

The survey, which maps the global footprint of 320 of the most prominent retailers across 200-plus cities, found that mature markets dominated retailer development plans in 2012, with Paris, London and New York attracting a sizeable amount of new entrants. Significantly, six emerging markets made the top 20, including Kiev in second place (with 39 new entrants), Sao Paulo (25 new entrants), lasi (19) and Muscat (17).

As a country, Canada overall was deemed more attractive for multiplying retailers than Toronto was. The country attracted 25 new retailers in 2012. A CBRE spokesperson commented that Canadian cities suffer an undersupply of prime retail space, a key limiting factor when it comes to new retailer interest. Still, he added, Canada is making it easier for new retailers to enter the country and it remains an attractive destination in a very competitive environment.

Retail inventory is predicted to expand in this country by some 5.4 million square feet in 2013.