White Clarke Group released its annual global leasing report, which revealed a confident industry outlook, with the top 50 countries in 2016 reporting growth in new business volume of 9.4% rising from $1,005.3 billion in 2015 to $1,099.8 billion in 2016.

In the top five largest leasing markets the U.S. remains in first place. However, according to the Survey of Equipment Finance Activity (SEFA), the U.S. witnessed decelerated growth from 11.10% in 2015 to 2.54% in 2016 in new business volume.

China continued its rapid rise gaining on the U.S. as the second largest leasing market, up a massive 61.9% to $206 billion in 2016. The growth of the market has been remarkable and leasing is now seen as an important finance option in the domestic economy.

The UK and Germany are positioned as the third and fourth largest leasing markets in the world, respectively, and remain the dominant players in Europe, accounting for 42% of the European market total. In 2016, the UK industry captured $81.77 billion of new business registering a significant growth rate of 8.98% as compared with the previous year amid challenging economic conditions over the uncertainty of the Brexit negotiations. Germany registered positive growth of 3.42% in comparison to 2015, with new business volume of $64.3 billion.

Japan experienced a small decrease in lease transaction volume in 2016 of -1.3%. However, it still remains the second largest market in Asia behind China.

Looking ahead, Brendan Gleeson, group CEO at White Clarke Group, said, “The year 2016 has brought significant socioeconomic events, namely Brexit negotiations and tense political situations over the world. It is quite early to assess how these markets will react to these events, however the tone for 2017 figures is currently optimistic regardless of such instabilities in international economies.”