A GLOBAL coalition of more than 100 property professional bodies which make up the IES Coalition, have publish the first set of ethics principles for professionals working in land, property, construction, infrastructure and related professions.
The IES Coalition believes that creating a universally applicable set of ethics values will help assert the role of ethics and help ensure greater professionalism.
IES Coalition chair Peter Bolton King said globally, real estate assets reached a value of $217 trillion in 2015 which compares with global GDP of about $80 trillion and it is vital that organisations in these sectors continue to collaborate and bring greater recognition to the role that ethical values play in contributing to efficient property markets.
“Ethical values act as an anchor to appropriate behaviours and research tells us that investment in real estate markets by pension funds and sovereign wealth funds is predicted to double over the next decade. Therefore, publishing one set of International Ethics Standards helps to underpin existing codes of ethics and create an opportunity to strengthen the role these values play in the property industry.”
Australian Property Institute CEO Mike Zissler said other professions have long-established global ethics standards including accountancy, law, auditing and medicine and the IES Trustees felt that it was time for real estate and related professions, which are among the largest industries in the world, to produce one set of global ethics standards.
“The absence of a single, clearly understood and internationally adopted approach means that for clients of professionals and for the public at large, ethics can sometimes be seen as fragmented.
“Creating one over-arching set of ethical principles brings improved clarity and transparency, helping to de-risk markets,” Zissler said.
The new standard has been written by a group of independent industry leaders and international ethics and compliance experts appointed by Trustees of the IES Coalition.
Included in the group are prominent real estate representatives from Russia, China, France, the USA, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia, Canada and the UK.
The IES Coalition held a three month global public consultation to ensure that the final version is high quality, understood and accepted by all participating organisations, practitioners and their clients.
Australian Property Journal
