Real estate transparency improving, more needs to be done on land records, data: JLL

JLL's report said that a growth of listed real estate assets, as well as an improvement in transaction process, helped in improving transparency

India’s Tier-1 real estate market, particularly in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, has progressed significantly due to improved regulations, an increase in the number of listed players and a streamlined transaction process, global property consultant JLL has said.

More work is needed to clean up land records, better and unified performance indicators and data sources, as well as an expansion in the size and scope of listed vehicles, especially in the nascent real estate investment trust (REIT) space, JLL’s biennial global real estate transparency report said. The report was released on August 27.

"More efficient dispute resolution mechanisms are needed, as well as better land records. Some states have started digitising their land records and mapping them, but more work is needed in that aspect," JLL India's chief economist Samantak Das said at a media briefing.

Among the 83 countries and sub-national entities assessed by JLL, India ranked 31st, with the United Kingdom and France occupying the top two spots. India's ranking places it in the list of "transparent" countries among those assessed.

The Indian real estate market scored high on two key parameters — transaction process, and market fundamentals, Das said. A greater push is needed as far as regulations are concerned, with India's progress significant but still some way short of top real estate markets like the UK, France, or other European markets.

Das added that more office assets entering the REITs space will help increase disclosures about assets and the markets, required by capital market regulators like the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

The BSE has a unified index of REITs and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs).