Authors: JLL Inc.

Real estate transparency is the free flow of information and the fair and consistent application of local property laws. Increasing levels of real estate transparency are a sign that property rights are more secure and that the regulatory process is consistent and fairly administered. Research by JLL shows there is a clear relationship between transparency and levels of investments in the real estate sector. The most transparent real estate markets (such as the UK and the US) attract far more investment in their real estate markets than less transparent markets, such as Lagos or Algeria.

Abu Dhabi’s real estate market was one of the top global improvers in JLL’s latest Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI) in 2022, benefitting from a concerted government focus on increasing market transparency. It was among the top improvers due to regulatory changes, digitization of services, and enhanced data availability.

In our latest report, the UAE’s capital ranked 45th globally, maintaining its position in the ‘Semi-Transparent’ tier. It has continued to expand its digital services through its Dari platform, which includes sales and lease management and development and transaction databases. The Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) has published its first code of ethics covering real estate professions. The market has also benefitted from increased data provision by private providers in new sectors.

One of the key findings in the latest GRETI report was the widening of the transparency gap as leading countries pulled further ahead and set higher standards, from new regulations covering energy efficiency and emissions standards for buildings and climate risk reporting; to raising the bar for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and beneficial ownership reporting; to providing deeper data on everything from office utilization rates to niche property types, supported by the rapid uptake of technology. Progress lower down the global rankings has been slow as many jurisdictions plateau or regress, and they will need to move faster to meet heightened expectations.

The drive to improve productivity and uncover new revenue streams in the industry – as well as to respond to changes in how we live and work after the COVID pandemic – has spurred a rapid increase in the use of real estate technology platforms. The availability of new, high-frequency, and more granular data is boosting real estate’s transparency in unimaginable ways just a decade ago.

Two of the most powerful forces influencing the modern management of real estate are transparency and sustainability. Rising transparency has been a trend for decades; sustainability’s impact is much more recent. During the interviews for the 2022 edition of GRETI, it became clear that these two forces are now colliding in simultaneously inspiring, insightful, confusing, time-consuming, and potentially game-changing ways.