London ranked as the top city for global real estate investment in 2017 according to research by JLL, indicating Brexit uncertainty didn’t hamstring real estate investment as had been feared.
The figures highlight investment in London increased by 35 percent from 2016 to €26.7 billion ($33 billion) in 2017, while Los Angeles shifted up to second place in the Top 30 with €18.6 billion ($23 billion) invested and New York moved into third place with €17 billion ($21 billion).
Transaction volumes reached close to €567 billion ($700 billion) for the full-year 2017, exceeding the robust levels of 2016.
London took the top position as the world’s most traded city with investment volumes rebounding by 35 percent from 2016 lows, supported by significant activity by cross-border purchasers, in particular from Hong Kong, the United States and Germany. The Asian members of the Big Seven also saw investment activity increase in 2017, with major transactions by offshore investors contributing to double-digit growth in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.
But JLL projects that real estate investment volumes will be 5 percent -10 percent lower in 2018 as the challenges of finding available assets to purchase, combined with continuing investor discipline, are likely to constrain growth in volumes.
For 2018 the gap will continue to close between the leading cities (the Big Seven) attracting around a quarter of the world’s investment flows over the past three years, led by London and New York, and the next tier (the Contenders), such as Amsterdam, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Shanghai, Sydney and Toronto which are rising to compete with elite cities for capital and businesses.
Established locations which are hubs for science and technology industries, like Berlin, Boston and Seattle, will continue to strengthen their status as investment destinations.
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