Insights into real estate registration and cadastre

Published 1 November 2021
Reissued October 2022

Effective land administration and real estate registration is a key governance, social justice and economic requisite for any developed or developing country. It forms the basis of any functioning land and property market and, when ineffective (or non-existent), is the source of almost insurmountable problems, including a lack of land and property taxation revenue, non-functioning land/property markets, insecure tenure (and all that entails, including the inability to issue mortgages or invest), decreased public health intervention, lower infrastructure development, increased conflicts and disputes, and much more besides.

So how does a nation move towards a functioning real estate and cadastral system that benefits the public and enables economic development? After all, over 70% of global land and property is unregistered – putting a brake on any hope of economic and social development in many nations.

This practice information focuses less on the academic and more on the practical and technical needs of any land initiative, from tech innovation to governance and capacity-building and the role of licensed surveyors. The expert authors draw on their own professional experience during decades of working at the sharp end of land administration and registration practice in numerous countries.

This document was reissued in October 2022 as practice information. It had previously been published in November 2021 as an insight paper entitled Real estate registration and cadastre. No material changes have been made to the document.