Singapore is the second hottest city in the world for new retailer expansion after Tokyo, having attracted 58 new retail brands in 2014.

This number is twice that of new brands the Republic attracted in 2013, with Orchard Road remaining the most popular shopping location.

Tokyo, which tops the list of target markets with 63 new brands, continues to experience high demand for space in core areas despite the mixed signals in the economy and an increase in the sales tax to 8 per cent from April 2014.

The findings are from the latest report by global property advisor CBRE, "How Global is the Business of Retail?", which looked at 50 countries and 164 cities across the world.

Asia is a hot destination for new retail entrants, with six of the top 15 cities coming from the region.

A fast-riser was Taipei, which ranked fourth, climbing seven places from last year's new entrants' rankings with 49 new brands in 2014 compared with 29 in 2013.

London remained the world's most international shopping destination with 57.9 per cent of international retailers present there, which was closely followed by Dubai with 55.7 per cent of international retailers present and Shanghai with 53.4 per cent.

Mr Desmond Sim, head of CBRE Research, Singapore and South East Asia, said in a statement: "Despite the high level of new entrants, the retail market continues to be challenging. Retailers big and small are using Singapore as a test bed for the South East Asia market given the Republic's cosmopolitan consumer market."