Boris Johnson first muttered the words “levelling up” back in 2020 as part of plans to further weaken the red wall and spread Conservative support across the UK.
Since that time, barely a moment has gone by without those two words being used. And while the future of the Johnson-led party’s plans for levelling up is likely to shift with a new leader of the Tory party in place, the need for more balance across the country is undeniable.
Using figures from EG Radius, we stack the 12 regional cities featured in our UK Cities Investor Guide up against each other and London to see how each has fared since levelling up first became “a thing” two years ago.
What is clear is that the UK regional cities lag London, even when combined. According to EG analysis, the investment total across our 12 cities is 23% lower than London, take-up is 12% lower and average rents some 54% lower. The UK cities do outperform London, however, when it comes to logistics take-up and the amount of space subject to planning applications and permissions for new logistics premises.
So while there is evidence that the regions are closing the gap across some metrics, in terms of cold, hard cash the capital is still leading the way.
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