Vietnam real estate market least transparent in Southeast Asia

The country placed 49th out of 89 countries and territories in property consultancy JLL's 2024 Global Real Estate Transparency Index.

In Southeast Asia Singapore was 13th in the list, Thailand was 32nd, Malaysia was 33rd, Indonesia was 40th, and the Philippines was 45th.

The index assessed transparency by combining quantitative data and survey results from 151 cities in the featured markets.

Each market received a score of one to five, the lower meaning more transparent, based on six factors: investment performance, regulatory and legal, market fundamentals, transaction processes, corporate governance, and sustainability.

Markets scoring below 1.96 were labeled as "highly transparent" while those above this were divided into four categories ranging from "transparent" to "opaque."

Vietnam was classified as a semi-transparent market and was in the bottom half in four areas, investment performance, regulatory and legal, transaction processes, and sustainability. In the Asia-Pacific, Japan was the most transparent market, ranking 11th.

JLL said this year Asian markets improved the most since 2022, with India being the top global improver.

Sustainability was one of the least transparent factors globally as mandatory building performance standards, public disclosure of energy use, climate risk reporting, and resilience planning were limited outside of the most transparent markets, it noted, adding that money laundering is a key concern to monitor.

Richard Bloxam, CEO of Capital Markets at JLL, said with investors increasingly focusing on transparency, markets with clear pricing and solid fundamentals, especially across diverse specialty sectors, would likely lead a recovery in real estate liquidity.

"On the horizon, additional drivers like artificial intelligence and higher standards of sustainability obligations and reporting will continue to push investors to seek greater transparency."