Real estate transparency needs more improvements

Hanoi (VNA) – The transparency in Vietnam’s real estate market has got better, but much more efforts are required to promote this index, a specialist of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Vietnam real estate company said.

Vietnam ranks relatively low in JLL’s 2016 Global Real Estate Transparency Index, 68th out of the 109 surveyed countries.

However, it has climbed in the rankings over the years, said Trang Le, head of JLL Vietnam’s research and development consulting division.

She also cited the World Bank (WB)’s assessment that Vietnam has made progress on land information transparency, but much remains to be done in this regard.

In July, t he WB approved a 150 million-USD credit for the Improved Land Governance and Database Project for Vietnam, which will develop a land information and database system for both the Government and the public. It will also help simplify land services procedures.

The project is expected to accelerate land governance reforms and ensure the transparency of relevant procedures and information for property investors, thereby improving the local investment climate.

Transparent information about real estate projects has been recorded in the housing segment recently.

However, transparency promotion efforts have yet to be truly successful. Though property developers have played a more active role in publicising their project information, there is still a lack of concrete and strict regulations that can ensure information accuracy, Trang Le said.

The strong technology development and the property market’s attractiveness to investors will contribute to the transparency improvement in the future, she added.-VNA