New York, Los Angeles and London have been identified as the most resilient cities in the world, according to the Resilient Cities Index published in Impacts, Savills' global real estate research program.

The international consulting firm evaluated 500 cities based on four metrics: economic fundamentals, knowledge and technology economy, ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) and real estate market. The three cities share potential as strategic locations with an economic and industrial fabric formed by large companies that focus on leveraging the entrepreneurial ecosystem, which contributes to the stability of the real estate markets and the economic and financial progress of the cities.

Tokyo, San Francisco, Paris, Seoul, and Boston are in a second tier, according to Savills. In terms of worldwide investment volume, Los Angeles stole the top spot from New York, and Paris overtook London for the second year in a row.

Similarly, Seoul, ranked seventh, is the only one of the top ten cities with the highest investment that has recorded investment growth by 2020. European cities stood out in ESG factors, with the Nordic cities taking the top spots.

Forecast

Looking ahead, the index reveals that cities in Asia such as China's, Bangalore (India) and Vietnam's Ho Chi Min will increase their GDP over the next five years, with annual growth rates of 9.8% and 8.5%, respectively, in the case of the latter two, something that will cause them to climb in the index.

Savills' global head of Capital Markets, Simon Hope, points out that while pandemic has made some "question the future of cities themselves," "it is clear" that these are still the most important places for human interaction and real estate investment. "However, the world is going through an evolution that is not just due to pandemic," he comments.

Hope stresses it is "critical" that if adoption of the ESG criteria is slow, developers, landlords and tenants work together to increase the "resilience" of cities.