South Korea’s Real Estate Transparency Index Rises to 27th Globally

South Korea’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index has risen one level from 28th in 2021 to 27th in 2023, maintaining its ‘transparent’ rating. This is the highest ranking since the index was compiled.

The improvement in data availability and quality in the office and logistics sectors, as well as the growth and institutionalization of the REIT market, had a significant impact on the ranking. The introduction of the Korea Real Estate Institute benchmark and corporate procurement also contributed to the improvement of the index.

Lee Han-gook, head of JLL’s leasing division, stated, “We have made significant progress in real estate transparency in Korea through improvements in the availability and quality of real estate data and increased information levels in the mature REIT market. These developments are contributing significantly to global investors’ trust in the Korean market.”

The Global Real Estate Transparency Index was first published by JLL and LaSalle in 1999 and is updated every two years. It serves as a guide for real estate investors, developers, and companies to assess the risks associated with investment and market entry in overseas markets, and for governments and industry organizations to improve transparency in their own countries.

This year’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index report was conducted on 89 countries and 151 cities around the world. It collected, analyzed, and quantified real estate transparency information from 6 categories: performance measurement, market data, listed company governance, regulation and law, transaction process and sustainability, and 256 sub-individual indicators.

The UK maintained its top spot, followed by France, the US, Australia, and Canada. Asian countries also made great progress in improving transparency. Singapore rose from ‘transparent’ to ‘highly transparent’ for the first time, making notable progress in the sustainability and digital services sectors. India moved from ‘semitransparent’ to ‘transparent’ thanks to data center expansion and quality improvements.