Chile Property Investment News

Chile's Santiago attracting attention as city of growth

Santiago, the political, cultural and economic capital of Chile, has been rated the best place in Latin America for conducting business for the second time. The most recent top ranking comes from a survey by MasterCard and follows a study carried out by the magazine ‘América Economía’ which also found Santiago to be the top business city in Latin America. This is the latest in a line of positive news regarding Santiago – one of Chile’s most popular locations with real estate investors.

The MasterCard survey, devised to discover the 50 best places for trading around the world and rating London as the number one location, placed Santiago 39th in the global index, beating both Mexico City and Sao Paulo. The index found the city to be the best for business in Latin America due to a combination of factors, including its economic stability, its financial markets and its information infrastructure. Factors that led to América Economía also rating Santiago number one for business on the continent were its high quality of living and, as found by MasterCard, its stable economy and communication network.

Further evidence of Santiago’s growth is the news that the next phase of construction has begun on the city’s Costanera Centre. The structure will be Latin America’s tallest building once completed in 2010, standing at 300m high, and will comprise of commercial, office and residential space stretching over 60 floors. It is reported that some large multinational companies are already lining up to occupy office space in the Costanera Centre. Many international companies already have headquarters in Santiago - JP Morgan and Coca Cola among many others. Organisations such as these are drawn to Chile’s capital city due to the country’s strong economy overall.