Manila makes it to world's top 30 cities

MANILA, Philippines - The nation's capital is now among the world's top 30 cities, according to a recent study by real estate services and investment management firm JLL.

In its newest report released last month, JLL identified the Global300 or the top 300 cities that account for more than one-third of the world's economy and that are also expected to represent the bulk of economic and commercial real estate activity over the next decade.

Within the Global300, JLL listed 30 cities which account for 41 percent of the economic output, 43 percent of prime office stock and 60 percent of real estate investment activity of the top 300.

"The cities comprising the Global Top30 have remained broadly consistent since 2012 - Manila is a new entrant to the Top 30, while Madrid has fallen out, which is symptomatic of the steady shift in the balance of real estate activity towards the Asia Pacific region," the JLL said.

JLL also cited Manila's strong growth as a destination for business process outsourcing.

The firm said the Global300 is based on a Commercial Attraction Index, which is composed of key real estate measures and socio-economic and business indicators such as economic output, population, air connectivity and corporate presence.

The top 30 cities were further classified into super cities, mature cities and emerging cities.

Manila was among the emerging cities along with Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Moscow, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Istanbul, Guangzhou, Bangkok, Mexico City, Delhi and Mumbai.

"Emerging cities have increased their presence in the Global300," the JLL said, also noting that Asia Pacific cities such as Manila now account for almost one-quarter of commercial real estate investment into the top 300 cities.

The mature cities were Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Hong Kong, Atlanta, Dallas, Singapore, San Francisco, Houston, Toronto, Boston, Sydney and Frankfurt.

Those considered as super cities were Tokyo, New York, London and Paris, which were described by JLL as "an elite group that possesses a powerful combination of economic scale and influence, deep corporate bases, highly liquid real estate investment markets and large, diverse and high-quality commercial real estate stocks."

"These four cities wield significant economic might, particularly in the commercial real estate market. They account for nearly one-fifth of the office stock and commercial real estate investment volumes in the Global300," JLL said.