The FT has a long look at the aging demographics of major cities around the world and how that may be stifling their vitality. The upshot is that rising real estate values are forcing younger folks to look at other cities or peripheral regions to settle.

We’re flagging this story for two reasons. First, art values and real estate values seem to correlate (though there’s no clear evidence the two are casually related.) Second, art production thrives in communities of young creatives. In the past few years there has been speculation about Cleveland, Detroit and, Los Angeles as new centers for artists.

Where the artists congregate, the art market is likely to follow eventually:

“These world cities may be ageing at different rates to one another, but they’re all land-limited,” says Yolande Barnes, head of world research at Savills. “There’s not much space for new buildings, so you have a scarce asset and high demand — it’s the young people without equity who can’t compete with that.”

In other cities, too, “priced-out creative millennials are finding alternatives”, says Barnes. “In Sydney, they’re either going to new settlements like Parramatta or to alternative cities like Newcastle [in New South Wales]. In New York you have people moving upstate, to places like Ithaca.”

Global city prices hit a high plateau, and there’s nowhere further they can go,” says Barnes. Eventually, the price falls might tempt younger buyers back.

Young buyers are being priced out of global city property (Financial Times)