The domestic property market has become more transparent due to progress in many main cities, and steady advances over the last two surveys on real estate transparency.

“It is no surprise that Viet Nam has moved from ‘Non-transparent’ to ‘Semi-transparent” in our latest transparency index. Over the past 10 years, Viet Nam has become a top destination for manufacturing in Southeast Asia and attracted significant foreign investment,” said Stephen Wyatt, Country Head of JLL Viet Nam.

Viet Nam will need to continue rising up the rankings if it wants to attract more foreign investment, he said.

The country’s strong economic prospects have drawn interest from both occupiers and investors, and that has led to increased competition and service offering from property management companies. While investment into commercial real estate has paused during the pandemic, the overarching trend toward rising allocations to this asset class will continue. As investors look to allocate more capital into real estate in the region, transparency becomes even more important, according to JLL Viet Nam.

Emerging markets have once again shown the greatest advancement in the index, with six Asia-Pacific markets – China (32nd), Thailand (33rd), India (34th), Indonesia (40th), Philippines (44th) and Viet Nam (56th) – among the top 10 biggest improvers globally.

Singapore (14th) sits near the cusp of the ‘Highly Transparent’ tier as it has risen one spot from number 15 in 2018.

The 2020 Index was launched at a time of massive economic and societal disruption where the need for transparent processes, accurate and timely data and high ethical standards are in closer focus. The backdrop of COVID-19 is also ensuring transparency within Asia-Pacific’s real estate legal and regulatory systems is more important than ever to global investors, as they look to deploy approximately US$40 billion in capital into the region.

According to global property consultant JLL, pressure exists from investors, businesses and consumers to improve real estate transparency to compete with other asset classes and meet heightened expectations about the industry’s role in providing a sustainable and resilient environment.

Furthermore, innovative new property technology (proptech) is changing how real estate data is gathered and analysed and influencing industry transparency at a regulatory level.

In both Asia-Pacific and outside of the region, JLL’s research concludes sustainability commitments have become the biggest single driver of real estate transparency globally since 2018.

An increased focus on corporate social responsibility and acknowledgement of the need to create sustainable buildings bring environment, social and governance considerations into the mainstream. Additionally, green building certification systems and energy efficiency standards are widespread in the region’s most transparent markets and the most improved national real estate sectors.

Another key driver of transparency is the volume of real estate market data now available due to the growing adoption of proptech platforms, digital tools and big data.

Although real estate markets have historically faced challenges when implementing new technology, the COVID-19 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.

This 11th edition of the Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI) covers 99 countries and territories, and 163 city regions, according to JLL Viet Nam.

This latest survey has been extended to quantify 210 separate elements of transparency, with additional coverage on sustainability and resilience, health and wellness, proptech and alternative sectors. — VNS