Demand and
Disruption in
Global Cities
Our new research looks at the rapidly evolving global system of cities, the impact of the major forces of change on global urban dynamics and the implications for the real estate sector.
We bring together a unique perspective from across more than 500 city benchmarks around the world to identify the world’s most competitive cities in 2019.
No longer are a city’s economic fundamentals the main draw for corporate occupiers and investors. Instead, quality of life, innovation, sustainability, governance and resilience increasingly factor into location and investment decisions.
Seven cities show the strongest performance across the key global city competitiveness criteria – London, New York, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong have topped the list since 2013, with Seoul joining in 2017.
Another group of contending cities follows closely behind, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Toronto, Chicago, Beijing, Amsterdam, Sydney, Madrid and Washington, DC. This year, Berlin, Munich, Boston and Stockholm join the global leaderboard, as they continue to build on their quality of life advantages, innovation capabilities and institutional strength, and punch above their weight as destinations for cross-border real estate investment.