Top improvers leading global real estate transparency progress

Incremental progress at a global level belies the great strides made by individual markets to improve their transparency. The list of most improved nations is led by Myanmar, followed by Colombia and Dubai. The ten improvers represent a disparate group of markets, at different stages of their evolution, within different regions, each with a distinct set of drivers.

Top Transparency Improvers, 2016 – 2018

The drivers of improvement

We explore four of these ‘top improvers’ in more detail:

Myanmar (Top Improver Rank: 1st; Tier: Low Transparency) 

Myanmar has registered the biggest improvement of any nation globally. Transparency progress has gone hand-in-hand with the country’s political transformation. Following the first contested elections in 25 years, there has been a concerted effort to ‘open up’ the market that has translated to increased investor demand and the urgent need for greater levels of market intelligence.

Dubai (Top Improver Rank: 3rd; Tier: Semi-Transparent)

Dubai’s public sector has actively engaged with issues around transparency over a number of years, and the market continues to set the pace in the Middle East and North Africa. The government has pushed forward with a range of new initiatives around regulation, proptech, lease forms and building classification, while the Emirate’s real estate industry has also matured and diversified leading to new types of data becoming available.

Netherlands (Top Improver Rank: 7th; Tier: Highly Transparent)

The Netherlands is pushing the boundaries of transparency, embracing new technologies and structural changes in the industry. It is one of the leading markets for the adoption of transformative proptech tools, covering everything from ‘smart’ buildings to data aggregation. Alongside this, there is a breadth and high levels of data availability within the ‘alternatives’ sector.

India (Top Improver Rank: 10th; Tier: Semi-Transparent)

Widespread reform measures have been introduced by the Modi-led government – notably including the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), which has increased accountability among developers, improved available information and protected consumers. Improved market fundamentals, the liberalisation of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector and the strengthening of information in the public domain have supported this improvement in transparency.