The skyline of Manchester has changed dramatically over recent years. Even an occasional visitor will have noticed the world class buildings springing up across the city confirming its status as the North West’s principal business centre. In addition the Lowry and Media City developments at Salford Quays have succeeded in raising Manchester’s global profile.
Media City has raised Manchester’s global profile
This position has now been reinforced by an international study from Jones Lang LaSalle which places Manchester in 15th place for property investment relative to the size of the city’s economy. In this respect Manchester outperforms world cities such as Beijing, Paris and Milan.
Further adding to Manchester’s claim for second city recognition is the fact that, in terms of total investment, it occupies 46th position and is the only UK city apart from London included in the top 50.
Rosemary Feenan, the director of the research team that conducted the study, believes that Manchester must now establish itself on the global stage.
She says; “Manchester’s future will be dictated more by what it does to compete with other international cities such as Lyon, Boston or Vancouver, rather than other UK cities.”
Feenan points to the example of the Chilean capital Santiago which has established itself as an emerging tech hub by offering incentives to attract inward investment. Her advice to Manchester is to form trade alliances with both leading and emerging economies in order to further boost investment.
“While not a world city in the same class as London – which tops our global rankings by both volume and relative to its GDP – Manchester must foster global visibility in order to continue its ascent.”
Timing is important according to David Lathwood, Jones Lang LaSalle’s North West Director. He explains that, with the continually shifting economic axis towards the Far East, Manchester has to ensure it remains competitive in terms of what it has to offer.
He highlights further investment in the airport, the reputation of the city’s universities and the coming High Speed 2 rail link as factors in Manchester’s favour. However he warns that to exploit these advantages and attract new investment regeneration projects must be accelerated.
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Hello,
It’s a pleasure for me to say something about your unique Blog that showcase the updated facts about real estate and property investments in global market. I have already shared your Blog with my friends and hope you will come up with new sharpen ideas with your next post. Keep it up!
We are glad you like the blog Tim. We produce 4 posts a day and 3 at weekends, so there is always something new to read 🙂