Melbourne, Sydney among world's most dynamic cities: report
Melbourne and Sydney are among the most dynamic and fastest-growing cities in the world thanks largely to booming commercial real estate markets, a new report has found.
The JLL City Momentum Index 2017, which tracks the speed of change in terms of a city’s economy and commercial real estate market, has ranked Melbourne as the 12th most dynamic place in the world, with Sydney following at 16th.
It’s the first time Melbourne has placed higher than the harbour city on the list, with Sydney slipping back five places from last year.
Sydney scored the No. 1 spot in the world for commercial real estate. Photo: Kirk Gilmour
The high placings of Australian cities is demonstrative of a well-performing economy, JLL head of research for Australia, Andrew Ballantyne said.
“It shows that we’re seeing relatively strong levels of investment in both markets, as well as commercial transaction volumes and new sources of capital being deployed into those markets.
“To be positioned where they are in the global rankings, near to regions like China, India and Vietnam, is pretty impressive.”
The index aims to show which cities are changing the fastest, using 42 indicators, split into three major categories: socio-economic and commercial real estate momentum, and high-value incubators.
Sydney scored the number one spot in the world in terms of commercial real estate and Melbourne also performed strongly at number 10, with both cities set to be “among the leading global performers for office rental growth” this year, the report found.
Melbourne’s success has a lot to do with its fast-growing population, Mr Ballantyne said.
“Melbourne is just a great story in terms of population growth,” he said.
“It continues to have population growth well above the national average and it has affordability and liveability.”
Melbourne has shown considerable growth in its dynamism, rising from 18th place last year.
Despite its significant commercial real estate growth, Sydey lags behind in terms of socio-economic measures and longer-term indicators.
But Mr Ballantyne said Sydney’s somewhat slow performance in 2016 was due to a lack of product rather than investment, and the city will be bolstered by a strong first half of 2017.
“What’s going going to happen over the first half of the year will push Sydney higher,” he said.
According to the index, Bangalore is the world’s fastest changing city for the first time, with Ho Chi Minh City, Silicon Valley, Shanghai and Hyderabad rounding out the top five.
