London is one of the world’s top ten most expensive cities to build in, according to Arcadis.
In the latest International Construction Costs report, which compares construction costs across 100 global cities, London is the 6th most expensive city in the world for construction.
It was beaten by New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong, which ranked first, second and third respectively.
Copenhagen is Europe’s most expensive city for construction, ranking fourth, while Geneva is also more expensive than London, coming in at fifth.
The 10 least expensive cities for construction were predominantly located in Asia, with Bengaluru in India found to be the cheapest city to build in globally.
Globally the report found the gap between the cost of building in the most and least expensive cities had shrunk by more than 10%.
Arcadis said this was due to movement at both ends of the spectrum.
The average index score for the ten least expensive cities has increased by more than 5%, when compared to 2018.
Arcadis said a number of these markets had experienced significant regulatory changes, as well as a combination of currency impacts and inflation.
The index range for ten most expensive cities shrunk this year, with the average index value falling by 3%, compared to last year.
Malaysia's New Straits Times reported Kuala Lumpur stand as the fourth cheapest city in terms of construction cost and has a growing economy and a range of civil engineering projects that will be key drivers for the construction industry in 2019.
Arcadis head for Malaysia Justin Teoh said in 2019, the construction sector is expected to grow at a slower pace than in 2018 due to revisions around mega infrastructure projects and a general slowdown of global construction projects.
Meanwhile, citing the same report, Singapore Business Review said Singapore's construction sector shrank by 3.4% in 2018 due to a slowdown in public sector construction activities.
Construction costs in Singapore are still cheaper than Hong Kong as the city-state remained the fourth most expensive city in Asia to build in,
Source : The Arcadis International Construction Costs Index 2019
