ALLAN JACOB (ABU DHABI)
Regional disruption notwithstanding, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the top risers on the global real estate transparency charts over ten years, according to a new report.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai have made steady progress in digitising services and introducing new regulations, said JLL and LaSalle's 2026 Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI) report.
It notes that Dubai Land Department is “now a leader in providing real-time, publicly accessible real estate data”.
The report also mentions Saudi Arabia and Qatar as among the most improved markets in real estate transparency.
Transaction volumes in the world's most transparent real estate markets rose 64% over the past two years, quicker than the rest of the 88 countries that were tracked, the GRETI report said.
The United Kingdom ranks as the most transparent real estate market, followed by France, and Australia. India, Vietnam, South Korea, Australia and Thailand follow the UAE to make up half of the top 10 global improvers this year.
“India's largest cities have climbed further into the ‘Transparent’ tier as digital infrastructure and listed-market activity expand,” the reported added.
The index scores markets on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being the highest possible score). Depending on their overall performance, markets are assigned to one of five transparency tiers.