Catella Report Has Defined New European City Tiers
Real estate investors must now match capital allocation to specific urban economic clusters to secure returns.
Updated on Sept. 24, 2026 in Remote Work
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Catella has released its House View Autumn 2026 report, which categorizes 75 European metropolitan areas into six distinct performance tiers. The analysis provides a framework for aligning capital deployment with localized economic growth and occupier demand.
Why it matters
Real estate market performance no longer follows a single pan-European cycle, forcing operators to pivot from broad regional strategies to city-specific selection. This shift reflects a growing concentration of economic growth and population trends within specific urban centers.
The analysis covers 75 metropolitan areas across 20 European countries with a combined population of 350 million. Catella utilized 16 economic, demographic, and real estate indicators to sort these markets into six performance tiers.
The players
Catella
A European investment management firm specializing in real estate, infrastructure, and property-related financial services.
The details
The report classifies urban markets into six categories: flagship cities, economic anchors, talent hubs, rising stars, regional centres, and trailing cities. By mapping these categories against 16 specific data points, the firm aims to guide capital allocation for investors seeking to optimize risk-return profiles. This granular approach acknowledges that local occupier demand and population growth have diverged significantly between hubs like London or Munich and trailing markets.
Timeline
Spring 2026: Catella published its previous House View report.
Autumn 2026: Catella published the Cities Outlook report.
Market Landscape
This categorization reflects an industry shift away from treating European real estate as a monolithic asset class. It follows a pattern where market performance is increasingly decoupled from national boundaries and tethered to the economic resilience of individual city clusters.
Operators and investors should audit their current real estate footprint against these city tier classifications to identify potential risks in trailing markets. Decisions regarding expansion or lease renewals should prioritize locations identified as economic anchors or talent hubs.
The takeaway
Investment strategies must now account for extreme variance in urban performance rather than generalized country-level data. Review your current portfolio or site selection metrics to ensure they align with the economic indicators used in the latest Catella taxonomy.
Further reading
For more on the impact of urban shifts on business operations, visit the Remote Work section.
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Is now a good time to prioritize city location over property sector for real estate investments?
