The signs indicate it will. Driven by strong consumer spending, the financial services sector and rapid construction growth, the capital's economy is expected to expand by a blistering 5.3 percent this year before slowing slightly to 4.2 percent next year. At its current growth rate, it will overtake Switzerland in a couple of years. Most observers believe London's economic situation will improve with the election of the city's first mayor early next month. For the first time, the city of 7 million will have a full time advocate with the power and influence to push the city's agenda.
Economists say the boom has been prompted by a number of factors.
These bigger companies have created a demand for much bigger office spaces. More than 250 non-UK companies have moved into London during the past four years, mainly from North and South America and the Far East, according to London First, an organization set up to promote the city. These economic forces have made London property hot. Square footage on London's Oxford Street, a main thoroughfare, is the third most expensive on Earth, only slightly cheaper than New York City's Madison Avenue and Hong Kong's Causeway Bay, economists say. The flip side of this is London's new standing as the most expensive city to call home within the European Union.