Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a financial services firm specialized in providing real estate services, published its “Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2024” report in which it assesses real estate transparency conditions in 89 countries around the globe using 256 indicators to calculate a composite score ranging between 1.00 and 5.00. JLL accordingly categorizes each market from highly transparent (score: 1.00 - 1.96) to opaque (score: 4.17 - 5.00) and releases its findings on a biennial basis. The indicators are grouped into six broad sub-indices, namely “Performance Measurement” (25% weight in the index), “Market Fundamentals” (16.5%), “Governance of Listed Vehicles” (10%), “Regulatory and Legal” (23.5%), “Transaction Process” (15%), and “Sustainability” (10%). The index aims at helping real estate investors, retailers, and corporate occupiers understand the specifications and characteristics of the real estate sector in each of the covered countries when transacting (owning or renting) in foreign markets.

Anglophone countries grip on the top positions seems to be loosening, with France (1.26) pipping the United States (1.34, third place) to the second position, while the United Kingdom remained in control of the first position for yet another year with a score of 1.24.

As far as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is concerned, Dubai – UAE enjoyed the most transparent real estate market among its peers (global rank: 28; score: 2.38) improving to the transparent category, followed by semi-transparent markets of Saudi Arabia (global rank: 38; score: 2.79) and Abu Dhabi – UAE (global rank: 41; score: 2.87). Morocco (global rank: 59; score: 3.55) on the other hand, topped the list of MENA countries in the low real estate transparency category, followed by Egypt (global rank: 61; score: 3.64), and Bahrain (global rank: 65; score: 3.79) only to name a few.

On a local basis, Lebanon ranked 82^nd (up from 84^th in 2022) in the world and 13^th (unchanged from its 2022 rank) in the MENA region in the “Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2024” with a score of 4.43 (unchanged from its 2022 level). More specifically, Lebanon fared best in the governance of listed vehicles sub-index with a score of 3.48, followed by the regulatory & legal sub-index (4.09), the sustainability sub-index (4.32), the performance measurement sub-index (4.58), the transaction process sub-index (4.83) and the market fundamentals sub-index (4.96). The report mentioned that Lebanon has faced several political and economic challenges over the past two years which thwarted progress in real estate transparency. In this context, Lebanon was classified in the “opaque” category of markets for the fifth time in a row.