Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi remained among the global Top 10 most dynamic growing cities in JLL’s Short-Term City Momentum Index (CMI) 2018.

Now in its fifth year, the CMI tracks a broad range of factors to identify cities that possess the attributes for success over the short and long term. 

The rankings identify urban economies and real estate markets that are currently undergoing the most rapid growth. 

This year it highlights the continued rise of Asia-Pacific cities as destinations for global capital, commerce and innovation, with markets from the region accounting for 25 of the Global Top 30.

The pace and scale of change in today’s globalized, digitized economy is leading to an unprecedented transformation of our cities. 

As technology-enabled platforms lower barriers to entry and ensure that demand for talent and innovation becomes increasingly global, cities need to adapt and build environments that foster innovation ecosystems, talent and connectivity in order to maintain their competitiveness and gain the benefits of this rapid shift.

Ho Chi Minh City (third) and Hanoi (sixth) are attracting sizeable volumes of foreign direct investment (FDI) as they integrate into regional and global supply chains for high-technology manufacturing. 

This is helping to spur rapid economic and income growth, leading to among the world’s highest increases in retail sales and air passenger numbers.

“It’s not surprising to see Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi ranked in the Top 10,” said Mr. Stephen Wyatt, Regional Director of JLL Vietnam. 

“The pace of development within both cities is clearly evident and the government is making significant investment in infrastructure, which will help continue this momentum into the future.”

“There is an energy and buzz in the cities, with high levels of confidence and positive market sentiment. In the past few years there has been significant interest from foreign investors looking to participate in this highly attractive market and we expect this to continue for the foreseeable future.”

The 131 cities covered by the CMI were shortlisted on the basis of a combination of a weighted index of population, GDP, corporate presence, air connectivity, real estate investment activity, and commercial real estate stock.

VN Economic Times