MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine real estate market is among the top 10 improvers in Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL)’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index, driven by its push for sustainability.
The country ranked 44th among 99 countries and 163 city regions included in the study, climbing a spot higher than its 45th ranking in 2018.
“Sustainability, including a rise in the number of green-certified buildings, contributed to the Philippines’ improvement. Developer focus on sustainability in the Philippines will be further boosted by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act 2019, which includes guidelines on energy conserving design on buildings,” said P. Ryan Isip, JLL Philippines’ head of capital markets.
Isip added that the Philippines has also undertaken an initiative to digitize land registry, leading to better quality records and easier access.
JLL placed the Philippines under the semi-transparent category, characterized as countries that have made steady improvements in recent years, but need to address issues around corporate governance and regulatory enforcement if they are to progress into the ‘transparent’tier.