Australia tops Jones Lang LaSalle’s Global Transparency Index worldwide. Of the 15 economies in the Asia Pacific region that are included in the 2010 index, New Zealand also was rated as highly transparent. Four others — Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Japan — were rated as transparent, on a par with mature European markets. And although the Asia Pacific region includes the most transparent market, it also contains some of the world’s least transparent markets, such as China’s tertiary cities (ranked 65th) and Vietnam (ranked 76th).

Sally Haskins is senior vice president, real assets, with Callan Associates, a consulting firm based in San Francisco. She is responsible for strategic planning, implementation and performance oversight of clients’ real estate portfolios. Haskins heads manager due diligence and strategy research for Asian real estate markets and investment products. Her role also includes new business development for the real estate consulting group. Dr. Jennifer Molloy, editor of The Letter – Asia Pacific, recently spoke with Haskins about investor needs in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and current investment opportunities in the Asia Pacific region.

China's economy grew by 10.3 percent annualized in the second quarter as compared with the same period a year earlier. The percentage was lower than first quarter 2010’s growth of 11.9 percent. Several questions came to mind right away. Should we take this second quarter figure as an indication that the Chinese government skillfully slowed down what is perceived to be overheated growth, or is this a sign of more serious weakness coming our way?