Manila Makes JLL’s Top 20 Cities in Asia Pacific

The country’s capital is included in the top 20 cities in Asia Pacific in the Short-Term City Momentum Index (CMI) of 2018 of JLL, a global professional services firm in real estate and investment management.

Manila has been ranked 18th in the region — as one of the best destinations for global capital, business, and innovation — surpassing other cities in the ASEAN such as Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.

The report measures city’s short-term momentum looking at its population, connectivity, real estate investment, property prices, economic output, corporate activity, construction, and retail sales.

The top three cities in the study were India’s Hyderabad and Bangalore and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh.

“These cities made the cut because they are now considered key expansion markets for many corporates and are drawing particular interest from Chinese companies,” JLL Philippines Head of Research and Consulting Janlo de los Reyes said.

“They also boast of the highest levels of real estate completions across the globe as they build out the infrastructure to meet this demand,” De los Reyes added.

JLL Director for Global Research Jeremy Kelly noted that robust economic growth also leads to challenges, particularly meeting infrastructure requirement, affordability constraints, and environmental degradation.

JLL Philippines Country Head Christophe Vicic echoed the same sentiment, adding that the government should be keen on adapting technologies to address infrastructure challenges and sustain economic growth for long term.

“Manila is no exception. We are already experiencing strains on our airports, major roads, and public services. The city must adapt to the rate of its own growth for the latter to be sustainable,” said Vicic.

Meanwhile, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez welcomed the inclusion of Manila in JLL’s top 20 cities.

“The inclusion of Manila in the top 20 confirms the country’s comparative advantage in innovation and attracting global capital given the various economic and infrastructure reforms under the Duterte administration, demographic sweet spot in terms of rich human resource talents, growing population, stronger corporate performance and consumer base, aggressive real estate development and construction activities,” Lopez told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in a text message.

“This would prepare even more our country for the future,” he added. (PNA)