The fDi Top 25 ‘European Cities and Regions of the Future’ for 2018 have been revealed, and despite concerns around Brexit, London has taken the top spot.
Meanwhile Dublin has climbed to 2nd place, the 13th issue of the Dublin Economic Monitor reveals.
Dublin’s improved performance knocks Paris into third.
This, along with other key economic indicators, including the Mastercard Dublin SpendingPulse, shows that the overall performance of the Dublin economy remains relatively robust.
However, certain aspects of the economy, such as housing and residential rents, continue to hinder the city’s full growth potential, the research has found.
Housing completions in Dublin fell to 388 in January 2018, from 755 recorded in December 2017, while average residential rents in Dublin increased to over €1,500 a month (up 5.2pc year-on-year) following 17 quarters of growth in excess of 5.5pc.
Residential rents continued to exert pressure on the Greater Dublin Area in the fourth quarter of 2017, where a year-on-year growth rate of 7.5pc was recorded.
On a more positive note, there were an additional 10,500 employees added to the workforce in the final three months of 2017, with 671,000 people now employed in Dublin. Seasonally adjusted unemployment in the city for the final quarter of 2017 was 6.4pc.
“Dublin achieved its highest level of employment on record in the first quarter of 2018 reflecting its continued strong growth. This emerging trend is also reflected in many of the other indicators that we track in the Dublin Economic Monitor,” Ciara Morley, executive at EY-DKM Economic Advisory, said.
“There is, however, persistent upward pressure on house prices and rents which currently present as a risk to the city’s competitiveness. Looking ahead, continued growth is expected in 2018, though attracting talent at a suitable price point will act as a strengthening headwind unless property supply can accelerate.”
The Mastercard Dublin SpendingPulse shows that overall growth in consumer expenditure in the first three months of 2018 remains robust, rising by 4.8pc year-on-year, while the US, Chinese and French markets have contributed strongly to growth in total spending by overseas tourists, up by 9pc year-on-year overall.
Meanwhile the Global Talent Competitiveness Index ranks Dublin 7th for its business and labour landscape, market openness, education and lifestyle.
While throughput at Dublin Port in the first three months of 2018 reached a new high with over 9.3 million tonnes handled.
“Both Ireland and Dublin saw increases in retail sales growth in Q1 2018,” Michael McNamara, Global Head of SpendingPulse, MasterCard said.
“Dublin’s 4.8pc growth rate was impressive with virtually all areas growing including Entertainment turning from a negative growth in Q4 2017 to positive growth in Q1 2018.”
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