Australia is now the world’s second most transparent real estate market, according to the recently released JLL Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2016, supporting the solid investment fundamentals that have attracted high levels of foreign investment into Australia.
The index, compiled every two years, ranks countries by looking at factors including market data availability, governance, transaction processes, property rights, and the regulatory and legal environment.
The latest result from the ninth index shows that Australia has improved on its ranking from two years ago and continues to hold the top spot in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Transparency is very high in Australia for a number of reasons. In comparison with many markets in the region, Australia also has a strong legal framework to define and protect property rights and an open and established bidding process,” said David Rees, JLL’s head of Australasian research.
High market transparency clearly contributed to the record foreign investment into Australian commercial property in 2015, with offshore investors accounting for 42 per cent of total transaction volumes.
“Australia offers non-Asian investors a convenient gateway into Asia-Pacific and the fast-growing Southeast Asian economies,” Mr Rees added.
Globally investors are demanding further improvements in transparency, with evidence from the JLL transparency index pointing to a correlation between market transparency and investment volumes.
The latest index, covering 109 markets worldwide, shows continued progress in the transparency of commercial real estate around the world, with two-thirds of markets registering improvement since 2014.
Three other English-speaking countries continue to fill out the top four positions globally, with Britain taking the first spot and Canada the third, followed by the US.
[Source:- The Australian]
