London among Europe’s least ‘liveable’ cities, according to index
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 04: A Traditional terraced properties with the Canary Wharf skyline behind in Greenwich on June 4, 2014 in London, England. Mark Carney, Governer of the Bank of England has signalled worries with the housing market, pointing out that far too few homes are being built. Today, finalists were announced in a competition to design new garden cities outside of London to provide jobs, homes and economic growth in new places as the capital runs out of room for new property. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images)©Getty
London may be a global property hotspot, but social instability has a negative impact
London is the world’s hottest city for international home buyers – and yet it has become one of the least appealing places to live in Europe, according to new figures.
A torrent of cash has poured in to the British capital’s property market in the past couple of years from all over the world. But London is the third worst European city in which to live, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual liveability index.
Only Lisbon and Athens are less attractive places, it found.
The index looks at a number of factors that affect living conditions, including stability, healthcare, environment, education and infrastructure.
London has become a haven for money from around the world, with at least £122bn of UK property now held by offshore companies. As a result, house prices are growing rapidly, increasing by nearly 20 per cent in the past year according to official data published on Tuesday.
Despite this huge demand from international buyers, London is a less attractive place to live than Detroit or Reykjavik, the EIU researchers found.
US banks recently revealed that they are making plans to move staff from London to Dublin if Britain votes in favour of exiting Europe in a referendum after next year’s general election. They will find the city does not only offer economic attractions but is more liveable than London too.
Jon Copestake, an EIU analyst, said that London had slid down the index’s rankings in recent years because of a rise in social unrest.
He cited stability as the main factor making London less attractive to live in over the past half-decade. This category measures crime and the threat of terrorism, civil unrest, war or conflict.
In particular, Mr Copestake said, London had become less liveable because of the 2011 riots. He described them as “a fairly big event. It’s very hard to remember something like that occurring before.” He also expressed concern at the possibility of a recurrence. “The threat of that repeating itself is reflected in the [liveability] scores,” he said.
London also sees regular demonstrations such as the annual Mayday protests, which further contributed to its poor security score.
London’s move downwards reflects a wider trend in global security, Mr Copestake said.
“The decade of the Noughties was hallmarked by terror attacks, but now in this decade it is much more about social instability,” he said.
Mr Copestake cited the Arab Spring in 2011-13, the military coup in Thailand earlier this year, ongoing civil wars in Syria and Ukraine, the recent increase of violence in the Palestinian territories and Israel and rioting in the US city of Ferguson as examples of the trend.
“Civil unrest is very much the big global stability threat now,” he said.
Other European cities which have been downgraded by the EIU due to stability threats include Athens, which had widespread street battles during the eurozone crisis of 2010-12, and Madrid, which was hit by unrest last year and earlier this year as the government tried to impose economic reforms.
London’s score was also hit by its transport infrastructure, which is poor and overcrowded compared to many other European cities, the researchers found.
On a positive note, London scored “almost perfectly” on cultural availability, Mr Copestake said, adding that “the cities that tend to do the best [in the liveability index] tend to be the most boring cities”.
“The things that make a city exciting, such as diversity, may also be the things that create instability,” he said.