The biggest cities will continue to underperform

Five years ago, we were downbeat about the immediate prospects for the largest city real estate markets, the so-called gateways, and that view has proved correct. But we also argued that this malaise would be short lived and strong fundamentals would be reasserted in the second half of the decade. Five years on we are less confident, with scarring in US office hubs and limited scope for yield compression likely to delay any big city revival until later in the decade.