Dorota Dyman Associates Tips: Top X-factor index of global cities

New York and London are the leading cities in terms of wealth generation and economic growth which means they are likely to appeal to expats seeking a world class city to live and work in.

A new report from international real estate adviser, Savills, classes leading cities on their prominence and fame, as well as economy and size that give them what it calls ‘world class’ city status with the X-factor.

The firm has looked at a combination of global competitiveness, together with measures such as connectivity, international visitors and web search data, to determine overall world city status.

Behind New York and London are Singapore and Paris followed by emerging cities such as Moscow, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro which are less established leading global cities in the top tier of 12 covered by the study.

‘Our definition of a world city is not just based on size or economic prosperity, but other less tangible factors. These include fame, prominence, international reach and investability, all factors that are not revealed by population and GDP figures alone,’ said Yolande Barnes, director of Savills World Research.

‘These intangibles impact on the appeal of a city to business and wealth generators, which in turn influences the pace of residential and commercial real estate market growth and contraction and levels of market stability,’ she explained.

‘The redrawing of the global economic map is having a significant impact on real estate markets. New world economies, notably China and India, have recently seen weakened growth, while older industrialised economies, including the USA, UK and Japan, are now recovering more strongly than many commentators anticipated,’ Barnes pointed out.

‘As a result, the runaway real estate growth of new world cities has abated and in some cases, such as Mumbai and prime Hong Kong, it has reversed. The strength of investment markets in new economies are personified by Dubai’s high growth real estate centre. Its revival is indicative of a market recovering from very full price corrections after 2008,’ she added.

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