Global Real Estate Transparency Index published by JLL reveals heightened expectations from investors, business and consumers. The real estate consultant highlights the factors driving transparency across the world.
Increasing standards in sustainability
As companies demonstrate an unwavering commitment to corporate social responsibility, there is increased voluntary adoption of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) measures and greater acknowledgement of the need to create a sustainable built environment.
France and Australia lead on sustainability transparency as the first adopters of new initiatives such as water efficiency standards and resilient building frameworks. While Abu Dhabi’s score was boosted by government initiatives to improve corporate and real estate sustainability.
Growing adoption of proptech platforms
Although real estate markets have historically faced challenges when implementing new technology, the pandemic is leading to an acceleration in new types of non-standard and high-frequency data – especially relating to health, mobility and space usage – being collected and disseminated in near-real-time. COVID-19 could fast-track digitization and stimulate innovation in the use of technology due to the need for accurate and just-in-time data.
The highest levels of proptech adoption are in the “Highly Transparent” markets, such as France, Netherlands, Australia, UK, Canada and the U.S., as well as the high-income Asia Pacific markets like South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong SAR. Significantly, several less transparent, larger emerging markets also stand out on proptech adoption – including India, South Africa, Brazil and Mainland China.
Most improvement seen in Asia
South and Southeast Asian markets have led transparency advances in this year’s survey.
- India has made greatest progress in the region with advancement in the country’s REIT framework attracting greater interest from institutional investors.
- Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia have also seen improved transparency, making their real estate markets gradually more investible.
- Mainland China is one of this year’s top improvers with Shanghai and Beijing moving into the “Transparent” category for the first time. China’s leading cities have seen the greatest improvement in transparency globally over the past twelve years and are now reaping the benefits with Shanghai regularly appearing among the world’s top five cities for cross-border investment.
