The UK property market is the largest, and most professional of its kind in Europe. Its governing body, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), is respected and well governed and the Investment Property Databank (IPD) benchmarking service provides over 30 years of performance history for over £190 billion of investment, enabling investors to consider attributes of the market with confidence. As a consequence, the UK is considered one of the world's five most transparent markets.