Austria tops European nearshoring destinations in Savills Global Index

According to Savills' 2026 Nearshoring Index, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Austria, and the UK are the top global destinations for industrial companies seeking to move production closer to home ("nearshore") due to ongoing economic and geopolitical instability.

Savills Nearshoring Index

The index, part of Savills' "Impacts" program, evaluates 54 countries based on factors crucial for businesses aiming to shorten or diversify supply chains and reduce reliance on foreign imports. These factors fall into four pillars: local policies and proximity to consumers, labour costs, ease of doing business, trade infrastructure and Environmental/labour standards and energy performance.

Generally, higher-income economies tend to rank higher on the index.

Austria is the top European country, thanks to its central location, skilled workforce, and strong performance in resilience and ESG. The UK and Portugal follow closely, with many other European nations also in the top 20. This is attributed to their balanced performance across all four pillars, particularly their strong access to the vast EU market.

Savills also notes that location is increasingly important for inventory management. Many businesses are shifting from cost-focused "just-in-time" supply chains to more resilient "just-in-case" systems, which involve holding larger inventories closer to consumers. This trend has significantly boosted demand for warehousing space recently.

Connor Chilton, associate in Savills World Research, commented: “In the current macro and geopolitical climate, location is an incredibly complex decision for global manufacturing firms. Decisions aren’t just driven by a desire to minimise costs, but major considerations such as resilience, energy security and policy environments, alongside labour availability, rents, and access to consumers. Many of these factors pull in opposite directions, so those locations that top our Nearshoring Index tend to be those that manage to strike a balance between all these factors.”