The changing real estate market transparency in the European real estate markets

Purpose - Real estate market transparency is an important factor in real estate investment and occupier decision making. The purpose of this paper is to assess real estate transparency over 2004-2014 to determine whether the European real estate markets have become more transparent in a regional and global context. Design/methodology/approach - Using the JLL real estate transparency index over 2004-2014, changes in real estate market transparency are assessed for 102 real estate markets. This JLL real estate market transparency index is also assessed against corruption levels and business competitiveness in these markets. Findings - Improvements in real estate transparency are clearly evident in many European real estate markets, with several of these European real estate markets seen to be the major improvers in transparency from a global real estate markets perspective. Practical implications - Institutional investors and occupiers see real estate market transparency as a key factor in their strategic real estate investment and occupancy decision making. By assessing changes in real estate transparency across 102 real estate markets, investors and occupiers are able to make more informed real estate investment decisions across the global real estate markets. In particular, this relates to both investors and occupiers being able to more fully understand the risk dimensions of their international real estate decisions. Originality/value - This paper is the first paper to assess the dynamics of real estate market transparency over 2004-2014, with a particular focus on the 33 European real estate markets in a global context to facilitate more informed real estate investment and occupancy decision making.