Vietnam Ranks as Southeast Asia’s Least Transparent Real Estate Market

• 20 October 2024
• International News
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Vietnam’s real estate market has been ranked as the least transparent in Southeast Asia, placing 49th out of 89 countries and territories in JLL’s 2024 Global Real Estate Transparency Index. The report places Vietnam behind regional peers Singapore (13th), Thailand (32nd), Malaysia (33rd), Indonesia (40th), and the Philippines (45th) in terms of transparency, highlighting key challenges for investors regarding regulatory clarity, investment performance, and sustainability. This report was released on 11 September 2024.

The index evaluates transparency by combining quantitative data and survey results from 151 cities, assigning each market a score from one to five, with one indicating the highest level of transparency. Vietnam’s semi-transparent ranking was influenced by its lower performance in critical areas such as investment, regulatory and legal frameworks, transaction processes, and sustainability standards. In contrast, Japan emerged as the Asia-Pacific region’s most transparent real estate market, securing the 11th position.

JLL noted that Asian markets have shown significant improvement in transparency since 2022, with India leading the global charge. However, it flagged sustainability as a consistently low-ranking factor globally due to the absence of mandatory building performance standards, public energy-use disclosures, and climate risk reporting in most markets. “Money laundering remains a key concern,” the report added.

Richard Bloxam, CEO of Capital Markets at JLL, stated that markets with clear pricing, strong fundamentals, and improved transparency, particularly across diverse specialty sectors, are expected to lead a recovery in real estate liquidity.

He also predicted that “emerging drivers, including artificial intelligence and heightened sustainability standards, would further push investors to demand greater transparency across global real estate markets.”

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