Home to one of the highest catchments of FTSE 100 companies and two out of every three Fortune 500 companies call London their home. Companies such as Deloitte, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan and PwC continue to utilise London’s global influence as a pillar for their operations.
There are over 500,000 people currently working in the centre, 74.8% of the central population, this figure is forecasted to grow to 76% by 2019.
Several well-known businesses such as HSBC, Barclays Bank, Virgin, BBC and many others have their headquarters at London. The London Stock Exchange is the largest in the world, and accounts for about 32 percent of all global transactions.
Despite slow property growth over the last year, London remains the most expensive place to live in the UK and the 7thmost expensive in Europe. According to Savills’ forecast, London’s property market will fully recuperate by 2023, presenting a 3% increase in property prices in Q1.
The City of London is a leading financial and business centre, generating £45 billion in economic output, as measured by Gross Value Added (GVA), in 2014, equivalent to 14% of London’s output and 3% of the UK’s total economic output. In the City, specialised financial and professional services cluster together, providing employment for highly-skilled, highly-productive workers. The competitive advantages from both specific sector clustering and agglomeration benefits have helped to support employment and productivity growth in the City.
The City is projected to generate an additional £16 billion in output by 2025, equivalent to a rise of a third of its current size. The City’s productivity is projected to rise from £114,000 per job, to £141,000 per job, almost three times the UK’s productivity, enhancing the City’s competitiveness and ability to provide highly specialist financial and business services.
London offers a wide variety of transport options to enable seamless travel around the city. The London Underground, commonly referred to as ‘The Tube’, is the oldest and second longest metro system in the world, serving 270 stations. Transport for London (TfL) is also a huge employer recording over 25,000 staff in recent years.
London’s bus network is one of the largest in the world, running 24 hours a day, with about 8,500 buses, more than 700 bus routes and around 19,500 bus stops.
Although the majority of journeys involving central London are made by public transport, car travel is common in the suburbs. The inner ring road (around the city centre), the North and South Circular roads (in the suburbs), and the outer orbital motorway (the M25, outside the built-up area) encircle the city and are intersected by a number of busy radial routes.
Public transport is essential for connecting the wide pool of skilled labour in Greater London to the City and other central areas; 84% of the City’s working population travel to work using public transport, as do 34% of London’s working population.
