Top cities attract global business and this creates work opportunities for those wishing to live abroad with new research suggesting it is China that is leading the way.

The global city index from Schroders names Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Tinjin as the top four with the United States also doing well with New York in fifth place, Los Angeles sixth, Dallas seventh, Chicago tenth and Washington 11th.

Beijing-China
London is in eighth position, the top city in Europe, with Paris in 12th place and Madrid at 28th, the only other two European cities to feature in the index which ranks a total of 30 cities.

The index report says that a truly global city needs to have a high projected growth, a growing population, excellent infrastructure, skilled workers with disposable incomes and top universities.

The index is compiled on a range of factors, including the projected growth of the economy, disposable incomes over the next decade and the size of the working population. The top cities tend to be economically diverse and are highly attractive places to live due to diverse cultural and leisure activities.

‘Chinese cities continue to grow at a rapid rate as the country industrialises. GDP and retail sales are growing quickly. The only one of the five factors that holds these cities back is disposable income, but the rate of growth there is strong even if the absolute number is below peers,’ said Hugo Machin, co-head of global real estate securities at Schroders.

‘We expect these Chinese cities to become increasingly important and play a larger part in our investment universe in the coming years,’ he added.

He explained that while a city such as New York has fallen, in this case from second place to fifth, this is not due to a downgrade of the city itself but more an upgrade in the growth of Chinese cities.

He also pointed out that cities like Dallas continue to attract investment due to temperate climate, international airports, land to build and expand and tax incentives. London has seen a small increase in the index and it still remains one of our favourite cities due to its highly skilled workforce, large tourist demand and cultural appeal.

‘We think the Chinese mega cities will become an increasingly important place for real estate investment in the coming years. Hong Kong listed companies own real estate in China and that is a good way of getting some exposure for investors. We see the rapid growth and urbanisation of the top ranked Chinese global cities as a growing trend,’ he added.