Real estate transparency might not seem like such an important topic, but it has a huge impact on investors, occupiers, governments and academics, says Lee Fong of JLL's Asia Pacific Research group. JLL has recently released their ninth Global Real Estate Transparency Index which covers 109 markets worldwide. 

When it comes to investors, they view transparency as one measure of risk, says Fong. Investor questions around transparency should include: Are there sufficient regulations in place to ensure my building is safe? How secure is my land tenure? How clear is the transaction process? Can I access data to realistically and accurately benchmark my assets’ performance?

From an occupiers' perspective, knowing what services a landlord will provide is important, says Fong. Can I trust my agent to act in my best interests? Do I know where my service charges are being spent?

Governments are concerned with transparency when it comes to things like generating more growth from real estate, becoming more competitive in attracting real estate investment internationally and appearing more credible on the world stage.

Academics look at transparency in terms of whether emerging markets with strong GDP growth will attract more investment in the future, and which markets have the strongest regulatory systems.

Fong says the UK ranks as the world's most transparent market, but where does the Asia Pacific region sit? The results have just come out and Asia Pacific fared generally well. Australia is the most transparent market in AP and has moved up the global ranking again to #2 (the UK, US and Australia are always juxtapositioning for the top slots). China is opening up and at least Shanghai and Beijing have moved to the edge of the ‘Transparent’ category.

The Asia Pacific region is the most improved region, but JLL says advances are not uniform across the region with a wide disparity still existing between markets. 

In reality, it’s a "chicken and egg" scenario, says Fong, as investment volumes drive transparency and without investment volumes, transparency is a challenge.

Japan bucks this trend, until recently it’s been a large fairly insular domestic investment market, but has now started to see transparency improve alongside growing foreign investor interest. It’s no coincidence, ‘Highly Transparent’ and ‘Transparent’ markets account for 70% of regional real estate investment volumes. Where there is transparency, investors go. Rising investor and occupier demands have played roles in transparency gains, but governments and their agendas are also major drivers. 

Government-led initiatives such as taxation reforms and the creation of online sales/leasing databases have been major contributors to Taiwan progressing to the “Transparent” category.

"Audiences love rankings, but for us, this isn’t just some quick exercise that becomes tomorrow’s chip paper wrapping," says Fong. "It’s a highly technical and academic global initiative to really help inform and educate, not just our clients, but the industry at large."

To find out how your market ranks, take a look  here.