MOSCOW-In a recent survey of more than 500 companies in Europe, London, Paris and Frankfort again take the top spot as the best place to have an office, though Moscow is moving up. The Russian capital was ranked the most desirable city for companies to expand to for the second year in a row, and moved up to number 11 in Cushman & Wakefield’s European Cities Monitor.
The survey ranks 36 European cities on criteria such as quality of life, access to markets, availability and quality of staff, cost of office space, telecommunications and transport links, as well as which city should be considered “best for business” and the “best city in which to locate a business today.”
The top three have kept their positions since the first annual survey was conducted in 1990. Amsterdam and Berlin take up the four and five position, respectively. Germany has three cities in the top 10, including Munich (ninth), and Bucharest is the biggest gainer, moving from almost the bottom at 35th to 27th.
Fergus McCarthy, a senior consultant on Cushman’s European research team, said in a statement that it’s true that business preservation remains a key objective, with many companies just continuing to consolidate and restructure operations. However, he said that more executives are now seeing opportunities to grow and expand.
Moscow has had a strong expansion in consumer spending with low levels of consumer credit, growth in business to business sales and potential of secondary cities, said Tom Millard, managing director of Cushman in Russia. According to the survey, the number of European companies which expect to expand into Moscow within the next five years has jumped to 57 from 47 in 2010.
“All of this activity is underpinned by strong GDP growth, continued high oil and gas prices and a very healthy level of foreign currency reserves,” Millard said in the statement. “This growth in corporate activity will drive the next commercial property cycle and will give the bold investor the opportunity to earn significant returns from both income growth and capital appreciation.”
Jason Young, head of Cushman’s London Group, said in the statement that London has done its best to overcome economic crisis after crisis. “Government, both central and local, has to ensure that it provides an attractive environment for businesses of all sectors to operate in,” Young said. “Of particular concern is the banking and finance sector, with the political, regulatory and tax pressures that exist. London’s health depends on ensuring that the ‘City’ retains its status as the number one European, if not global, financial center.”
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