Shanghai World’s 4th Best for Real Estate Investment

A study on real estate investment prospects released this week compared 300 cities worldwide for basic factors driving commercial property value growth, and ranked Shanghai fourth, behind only San Francisco, London, and Dubai.

The Global 300 Cities report by property consultancy JLL projects a future global position for the world’s largest communities. JLL’s research measured several key indicators for each city, including economic size, corporate presence, air connectivity, real esate investment, cross-border real estate investment, and prime office rental growth to determine each city’s ranking.

Jeremy Kelly, Director, Global Research programmes at JLL, who spearheaded the research, said during his recent visit to Shanghai, “We are at the beginning of a rapidly changing commercial geography of cities – driven by a new era of competiveness. Cities are waking up to the need to be competitive, to be agile and to be innovative. Shanghai is a great example of a city that is leveraging new economic ideas, building global engagement and adapting to new opportunities.”

The JLL study explores the ingredients of city success and reviews Shanghai’s competitive profile to determine the city’s future global position. The report judges Shanghai currently to be the fourth most dynamic city globally, right after San Francisco, London and Dubai.

In terms of commercial appeal JLL found Shanghai to be the eighth most attractive city in the world, while it ranks 11th for real estate investment volumes. The accomplishment in terms of investment is remarkable considering that China’s commercial capital was ranked 190th in the world 10 years ago.

In terms of investment volume relative to the size of its economy, Shanghai came in 44th globally.

“Shanghai has spectacular momentum.  If we track the progress of the city along the ‘city evolution curve’ over a 25 year period, we can see Shanghai’s incredible growth story – from ‘early growth’ to ‘transitional’ and then leap-frogging to ‘Super City’ status by 2025, comparable with London, Paris, New York and Tokyo, if not sooner,” added Kelly.

The study recommended that in order to improve its global ranking, Shanghai needs to successfully adapt to future economic and social changes, and to be “smart, sustainable, transparent and resilient.”

Charts of Competitiveness on Various Factors