White Clarke Group announced the publication of their 20th annual Global Leasing Report and summary video, the world’s only guide to the top 50 leasing markets, summarizes leasing volumes and other market trends.

The report reveals an optimistic industry outlook with positive growth and continued confidence.

Overall global annual volumes reached the US$1 trillion milestone as leasing finally shrugged off the effects of the great recession, with growth in the industry outperforming that of the overall economy.

North America remained top of the world’s largest leasing regions - increasing its lead on Europe, and the United States remained the world’s largest leasing market by double-digit growth.

Europe, performed well, its two largest and most mature leasing countries, UK and Germany, continued to improve, with the UK achieving a 14% increase. The rise within both of these markets was driven in part by auto finance.

Asia showed the fastest growth of any region, China continued its rapid rise towards top place, expanding its leasing market more than 25% in one year. Business volumes were driven by infrastructure, manufacturing and a resilient car market.

Brendan Gleeson, Group CEO said: “2016 brought some significant economic and political events, namely Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. Both events have brought short-term volatility on the global foreign exchange and stock markets. It is too early to assess how these events impact upon the economies of the world and the global leasing industry in the medium term – but there may be some resulting economic instability in 2017.”

Learn more by downloading the Global Leasing Report or by purchasing the World Leasing Yearbook, which includes more than 50 country reviews, covering all leasing sectors with core data and statistics.