London has beaten off competition from Paris and Berlin to become the highest ranked European city for property investment, according to a survey of industry executives.
Confidence in the European real estate market has reached its highest level since 2014, according to the report commissioned by the Urban Land Institute and PwC, the professional services business, which surveyed almost 850 property investors, lenders, developers, fund managers and advisers from Europe.
About half of respondents thought that business confidence, profitability and headcounts will rise in 2022.
London has pulled ahead because it offers better value for money, with investors earning a yield of about one percentage point higher for properties in the capital compared with continental peers.
Its ability to “reinvent itself” as a base for the technology and life sciences markets was another reason for a boost in confidence, according to the survey.
Taking second place in the rankings was Berlin, which won the top spot last year, followed by Paris in third place.
More than 80 per cent of businesses that responded to the survey said that the most concerning problem for the industry next year would be construction costs and the availability of resources, and 67 per cent cited uncertainties relating to cybersecurity as a short-term worry.