Dubai a resurgent city: JLL

Dubai, the host city for World Expo 2020, has been placed third on the list of most dynamic cities in the world.

The City Momentum Index (CMI), released by JLL, a real estate consultancy, which tracks 111 cities, puts San Francisco on the first position followed by London.

Under the headline “Resurgent cities gearing up for 2020”, JLL says: "Dubai is bouncing back following a deep slump in its economy and real estate market since the Global Financial Crisis.

“Property prices are rising, but growth appears to be on a sounder footing than in the pre-crash years of 2006-2008, underpinned by the city’s strong global connectivity and its status as the service hub for the MENASCA2 region, as well as its position as a preferred staging point for an increasingly dynamic Sub-Saharan Africa.”

JLL adds: “Winning the bid to host Expo 2020 has given the city renewed confidence and momentum.”

Craig Plumb, Head of Research at JLL Mena, said: “Dubai is the most international city within the Mena region and its global role has been a key element of its growth strategy. A relatively small city (with a population of around 2 million), Dubai has the world’s second busiest international airport and the world’s fifth busiest sea port.

“The city is planning to further increase its global footprint through hosting the World Expo in 2020, where one of the key themes will be about connectivity. A testament to Dubai’s renewed dynamism, the city ranks third in JLL’s City Momentum Index covering 111 cities.”

The CMI Top 20 includes many of the most internationalised elite cities that are well established on the world stage, namely London, New York and Tokyo; the major global gateways and trading hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore and cities with soft global power and influence, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles.

“The strong showing of these leading global cities underlines their rising power and influence; they are wielding ever greater economic might and are the clear beneficiaries of globalisation,” says the CMI report.

Such cities are magnets for top talent from the world’s highly mobile creative classes; they have the largest concentrations of high net worth individuals and, as a group, attract significant levels of foreign direct investment.

They are also dominant in terms of high-value business and financial services. Their weight and influence is even more apparent within the real estate sector – these eight cities alone account for one-quarter of the world’s direct commercial real estate investment activity (2012-2013), as well as significant foreign investment in residential property, the report states.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.