Dubai amongst Top 20 Most Dynamic Cities

Last year, Jones Lang LaSalle’s (JLL) annual City Momentum Index (CMI) ranked Dubai as the world’s third most dynamic city. The 2014 praised the emirate’s global connectivity and its important roles of a regional service hub. The 2015 ranking, however, shows that Dubai has lost a few spots and is now out of the top 10 of the world’s most vibrant cities.

JLL’s City Momentum Index (CMI) examines different factors that can drive a city’s development and growth. Even though Dubai is still among the 20 most dynamic cities, it has lost 10 positions on the JLL’s index. The city has dropped from the 3rd to the 13th position in just twelve months.

According to the research, Dubai lost spots because the price rise on the city’s commercial real estate market has reached more “sustainable levels.” Moreover, the report states that the city’s decline on the list may continue in the near future.

Nevertheless, Dubai is the only city from the Middle East that has made it to the list. According to the study, other cities from the region, like Abu Dhabi, Jeddah and Riyadh, were also examined, but their score was not high enough to place them on the Momentum Index this year.

Dubai is not the only city that has witnessed a decrease on the dynamic city index. San Francisco, which was last year’s most dynamic city, has fallen to the 9th position on the latest ranking after London climbed one spot and claimed the title. New York and Singapore have both registered a steep fall by 12 ad 7 spots, respectively. Many Asian and North American cities have also dropped out of the list. Those include Austin, Los Angeles, Seattle, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Despite that, the JLL’s City Momentum Index is dominated by Asia. Nearly half of the top 20 entries this year are all located on that contininent. Among them are Beijing (3) and Shenzhen (4). They each recorded an impressive jump this year.

Here is the full list of the world’s 20 most dynamic cities:

1. London
2. San Jose
3. Beijing
4. Shenzhen
5. Shanghai
6. Ho Chi Minh City
7. Boston
8. Wuhan
9. San Francisco
10. Chongqing

13. Dubai

The report also states that the technology sector and cross-border real estate investments have become two of the strongest economic variables. The performance of cities like San Jose (2), Boston (7) and San Francisco (9) was all boosted by technology. London (1) and Dublin (14), on the other hand, improved their ranking with their growing rate of international real estate investment.