London Best City in Europe for Property Investment: Report

London Best City in Europe for Property Investment: Report

London has been named as the top city in Europe for investment in property by real estate services company, JLL (formerly Jones Lang LaSalle). The report, the City Momentum Index, is published annually by JLL. The Irish capital, Dublin, is in second place, with Paris in third.
The report looks especially at places in Europe where rapid change is taking place, and the published top 12 are cities which combine real estate dynamics such as investment, property prices and construction with socio-economic factors. Each of the top three cities are marked out for being strong in technology, having deep talent pools and also ambitious urban development plans.

The report’s authors stressed also the improvement in the standing of Istanbul, which comes into the Top 12 for the first time. It is believed that Istanbul may have the fastest economic growth of any city in Europe over the next three years, a momentum which could well be maintained by major projects such as new metro lines, a third bridge over the Bosphorus and a third airport.

But the single largest new transport scheme in Europe is in London, helping to underline the city’s number one rating. The Crossrail project, building a new rail line will go from the West, Reading in Berkshire, through Central London and out to Shenfield in Essex in the East, with a branch line to south of the River Thames, to Woolwich. In total, this will cover almost 100 miles with fast and frequent train services. Property prices on the route have already started to rise in anticipation of the improved connectivity.

Paris, too, has a major transportation project underway, the Grand Paris project. This will add 200km of new metro lines to the city’s network, not only giving greater connectivity but also creating a broad range of new opportunities for real estate development.

But this report looks beyond big capital cities or large conurbations such as Istanbul. In fourth place is Randstad in the Netherlands; Munich is fifth; Stockholm sixth; Copenhagen seventh; Berlin 11th; and Barcelona 12th. The report explains that these smaller, innovation-oriented cities combine strong infrastructure platforms with a high quality of life and resilience against changing economic conditions.

The reason for this, as Jeremy Kelly, director of global research at JLL, explains is that,

“Investors are increasingly looking towards long term trends such as demography and technology when making asset allocation decisions, driven by their search for sustainable income. Cities such as Stockholm, Berlin and Copenhagen have among Europe’s highest concentrations of high-tech start-ups, and strong research systems.”

He went on to add that these are cities with large young populations, giving them a particular dynamism.

A quarter of the Top 12 cities are in the United Kingdom. As well as London in first place, Manchester comes in ninth, just ahead of the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, in tenth.

Most Recent News

UK Will Open New Business Immigration Routes

UK Will Open New Business Immigration Routes

UK Closes Immigration Route to Investors

UK Closes Immigration Route to Investors