Mainland market moving up in global index

The Chinese mainland's real estate market has continued to make progress over the past two years with Shanghai and Beijing moving into the "transparent" tier for the first time, international real estate adviser JLL said on Tuesday while releasing its latest edition of the Global Real Estate Transparent Index.

The mainland advanced one spot from 2018 to rank 32nd in this year's overall index, driven by factors which include a more active property technology sector, growing engagement with sustainability and wellness, increased disclosure requirements for a growing number of listed companies, greater professionalism in property management, more coordinated land-use planning and increased activity in alternatives sectors, according to the biennial index produced by JLL and LaSalle Investment Management.

"Shanghai and Beijing's elevation to the 'transparent' tier of global real estate mirrors the Chinese mainland's diversifying economic development and its status as one of the fastest-evolving commercial property sectors internationally," said Daniel Yao, head of research at JLL China. "As the industry embraces innovative technology and sustainable practices, the Chinese mainland's real estate market is poised to further enhance its standing as one of the most dynamic and attractive markets around the globe."

The survey also covered the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou and Kunming. Except for Hangzhou, which was added this year, the others had all seen an improvement compared with their 2018 rankings, JLL said.

However, it said some key challenges remained.

Areas for further improvement include capital controls, expansion of the REIT codes to cover a wider spectrum of income-generating commercial real estate, improvement within sustainability transparency, and improvement in data availability concerning the retail, logistics and alternatives sectors, according to JLL.

The index, launched in 1999 and updated every two years, is based on a comprehensive survey of the availability and quality of performance benchmarks and market data, governance structures, regulatory and legal environments, transaction processes and sustainability metrics.

All the markets have been classified into five different transparency tiers, with the UK, the US and Australia topping the ranks in the 2020 edition which covers 163 cities in 99 countries and territories.