New Zealand has slipped down the ranks, now sitting at sixth in the world for real estate transparency.
Two years ago, New Zealand was in fourth place, but the latest Global Real Estate Transparency Index by JLL shows the country is now in sixth place.
JLL New Zealand head of research Justin Kean said the decline reflected improvements made by other nations, rather than any slipping of standards in New Zealand.
“Since joining the ‘highly transparent’ category in 2004, New Zealand has remained in the top ranks because of its complex level of legal and regulatory enforcement, financial disclosure, fairness of transaction processes, access to high-quality market data and performance benchmarks.”
The index measures transparency by looking at factors including data availability, governance, transaction processes, and the regulatory and legal environment.
Both New Zealand and Australia are classified as ‘highly transparent’ in the report.
Australia is ranked second, behind the United Kingdom in top spot.
Canada is in third place and the United States is fourth.
Two-thirds of real estate markets globally have shown progress in levels of transparency over the past two years, with the Asia Pacific region making the greatest progress.
The major factor driving improvement in Asia Pacific has been the increased availability and quality of market data.
In some countries, improvements have also been seen in performance benchmarking, the enactment of new legislation, the introduction of higher ethical standards, and the wider adoption of ‘green building’ regulations and tools.
Overall, improvements in most countries across the Asia Pacific region have been small.
The biggest improver in the latest survey is Taiwan, which has moved into the ‘transparent’ category for the first time.
At the other end of the spectrum, Myanmar retains the title as the least transparent market in Asia Pacific, although it was amongst the 10 biggest improvers globally.
The launch of the Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2016 comes at a time when international institutions, national governments and businesses are demanding greater integrity and clarity in investments and transactions.
It reflects a growing recognition of the crucial role that a transparent real estate sector plays, not only as a facilitator of new investment and business activity but also, significantly, in community well-being and inclusiveness, according to the report.
Additionally, capital allocations to real estate are growing.
JLL forecasts that within the next decade in excess of US$1 trillion (NZD$1.38t) will be targeting the sector globally, compared to US$700 billion (NZ $969b) now.
This growth means investors are demanding further improvements in real estate transparency, expecting standards in real estate to be at least on a par with other asset classes.
JLL’s transparency index is updated biennially and has been charting the evolution of real estate transparency across the globe for 17 years.
The latest survey covers 109 markets around the world.
[Source:- Stuff]
