Moscow has been ranked the most desirable European city for companies to expand into for the second year running, according to a survey by global property consultant Cushman & Wakefield. The number of European companies which expect to locate in Moscow within the next five years has jumped to 57 from 47 in 2010.

London, Paris and Frankfurt remain the top three European cities in which to do business overall.

Amsterdam scored strongly this year, continuing the movement seen in 2010 to climb up to 4th from 6th place. Berlin also performed well and moved into the top five, up two places from 7th position last year. There was also a large rise in the number of business leaders expecting to locate in the city. 23 respondents cited Berlin as the most favourable city in which to expand, almost double that of 2010 (12).

In its 22nd year, the European Cities Monitor report is based on interviews with board directors at 501 of the largest companies in Europe. It includes an overall ranking of which European city is considered to be ‘best for business’ and the ‘best city in which to locate a business today’. In addition to this, 36 cities are ranked against criteria such as quality of life, access to markets, availability and quality of staff, cost of office space, telecommunications and transport links.