Abu Dhabi has climbed eight places to 33rd in JLL’s 2026 Global Real Estate Transparency Index, making it the world’s most improved market as greater access to property data strengthens market visibility.
September 30, 2026 | Palak Kataria | UAE | Real Estate | 3 Min Read
Image Courtesy: JLL
Abu Dhabi has recorded the largest improvement globally in real estate transparency, climbing eight positions in JLL’s 2026 Global Real Estate Transparency Index.
The emirate moved from 41st globally in 2024 to 33rd in 2026, recording a composite score of 2.42. The index assessed 88 countries and 146 city markets across 260 factors.
For Abu Dhabi, the improvement is closely connected to something increasingly important for property investors: access to better data.
The Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre (ADREC) has introduced publicly accessible dashboards providing real-time property and market information, interactive maps showing unit-level transactions and service charges, and open APIs that allow market data to be integrated into external systems.
Those measures, alongside regulatory changes and greater digitisation of real estate services, contributed to Abu Dhabi’s improved position, according to the release.
ADREC has now set an ambition of moving Abu Dhabi into the world’s 25 most transparent real estate markets by 2030.
Greater transparency has implications extending beyond rankings.
Property investors rely on information ranging from transaction histories and pricing to service charges, market performance and regulatory requirements when evaluating an asset.
JLL’s wider findings indicate how strongly capital is gravitating towards markets where that information is readily available.
Transaction volumes in markets classified as “Highly Transparent” increased 64% over the past two years, with those markets capturing more than 80% of global direct real estate investment.
Mouhammad Takieddin, CEO - Middle East and Africa at JLL, said reliable data, digital infrastructure and market clarity are important factors in attracting foreign investment.
The report also identifies areas where Abu Dhabi can make further progress.
These include using AI and advanced analytics to improve market intelligence, expanding available data for emerging property sectors such as data centres, life sciences and student housing, and strengthening building-performance and energy-transparency standards.
Energy and sustainability data are particularly relevant because highly transparent global markets increasingly require disclosures and resilience planning at the building level.
AI is creating another shift. JLL reports that more than 90% of occupiers and investors now use AI tools to analyse datasets for portfolio management, market opportunities and capital planning.
Abu Dhabi’s eight-place rise therefore marks progress, but the 33rd-place position also leaves room for further development.
The next stage is likely to be less about simply making property information available and more about turning increasingly detailed data into usable market intelligence for investors, developers and occupiers.
Sources: JLL; Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre (ADREC); JLL 2026 Global Real Estate Transparency Index; LaSalle Investment Management
