Uzbekistan moves to reform real estate services market

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan is taking steps to reform its real estate services sector to legalize the market and improve transparency, a senior official said.

The announcement was made by Alisher Miraliev, Deputy Director of the Agency for State Assets Management, during a Senate session on April 7, while commenting on a revised draft of the law “On Real Estate Activities.”

Despite a significant number of officially registered participants, a portion of transactions continues to take place outside the legal framework, he said.

According to official statistics, Uzbekistan has 285 real estate organizations and 684 licensed realtors. The volume of services provided reached 50 billion soums in 2024, compared with 43 billion soums a year earlier.

At the same time, a substantial share of the market remains in the informal sector. Only 129 companies, or 45% of the total, are registered in the “Personal Account” system. In addition, 108 informal intermediaries participated in around 19,000 transactions worth a total of 3.9 trillion soums.

Miraliev said the informal segment persists despite ongoing regulatory measures. Preliminary data show that 473 unregistered intermediaries facilitated about 650 real estate transactions last year, worth 136 billion soums.

One reason for the situation, he said, is the complexity of current legal requirements, including mandatory certification and membership in professional associations, which encourages some market participants to operate outside the formal system.

The revised legislation proposes introducing a separate legal category of real estate agent. The new framework would allow intermediaries to operate legally without obtaining a professional qualification certificate or joining industry associations.

Under the proposal, such agents would be responsible for property search, viewings, and marketing under agreements with property owners or real estate companies. The execution and legal registration of transactions would remain the responsibility of licensed real estate organizations.

Authorities expect the mechanism to reduce administrative barriers, simplify business conditions, and bring a significant share of informal brokers into the legal economy.

The law also provides for the digitalization of the sector through the creation of a unified online registry covering all market participants, including real estate companies, licensed realtors, and agents. The registry will be maintained by an authorized body and updated regularly.

Miraliev said the system would allow citizens to verify the legal status of market participants, which is expected to increase trust and professionalism in the real estate sector.