The Best Cities for the Future

Global Real Estate specialist JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle IP, Inc.) offers a global City Momentum Index.  The top 30 “future-proofed” cities are “at the forefront of the innovation economy.” JLL identifies a city’s key future-proofing ingredients as the number of technology firms, education, environment, transparency, infrastructure, and number of international patents.  Cities that invest in and best leverage their strengths in technology, physical and digital connectivity, quality of life and sustainability, will be positioned to maintain their performance into the future in the new competitive landscape.

The Top 30 Future-Proofed cities are:

1. San Francisco 16. Berlin

2. Silicon Valley 17. Melbourne

3. New York 18. Austin

4. London 19. Vancouver

5. Boston 20. Denver

6. Los Angeles 21. Washington DC

7. Paris 22. Copenhagen

8. Amsterdam 23. Stockholm

9. Toronto 24. Edinburgh

10. San Diego 25. Philadelphia

11. Chicago 26. Montreal

12. Seattle 27. Helsinki

13. Tokyo 28. Seoul

14. Sydney 29. Singapore

15.  Munich 30. Zurich

The City momentum Index 2018 also shows the cities that have the best short term economic and real estate momentum (over a three-year horizon). These cities are undergoing significant change to their urban fabric as they build out the infrastructure to meet urgent demand, and many are quickly moving up the value curve, especially in the Asia Pacific region. The key ingredients measuring short-term momentum are: Population growth, connectivity, Real Estate investment, property price, economic output, corporate activity, construction, and retail sales.

The top 30 Short-Term Momentum cities are:

1. Hyderabad 16. Guangzhou

2. Bangalore 17. Tianjin

3. Ho Chi Minh City 18. Manila

4. Pune 19. Shenzhen

5. Kolkata 20. Mumbai

6. Hanoi 21. Chengdu

7. Nanjing 22. Beijing

8. Delhi 23. Jakarta

9. Hangzhou 24. Kuala Lumpur

10. Xian 25. Lagos

11. Nairobi 26. Singapore

12. Chongqing 27. Dubai

13. Wuhan 28. Bangkok

14. Chennai 29. Seattle

15. Shanghai 30. Bucharest

Source: https://www.jll.ca/content/dam/jll-com/documents/pdf/research/global/JLL-City-Momentum-Index-2018.pdf

Don Simmonds