Foreign investors refind confidence
Foreign investors refind confidence
Although Vietnam’s real estate market has experienced a slowdown over recent years, the overall sentiment among international investors seems to have recovered.
Israeli billionaire Igal Ahouvi recently kicked off his first project in Vietnam, a $300 million resort in central province Khanh Hoa after several visits to Vietnam.
Meanwhile representatives from the Walton International Group recently visited Hanoi to look for opportunity to develop real estate projects.
According to Walton International Group marketing director Christopher Koh, real estate in Vietnam still was on the radar.
Koh especially expressed his interest in neighbourhoods lying just outside the city centre.
According to Mauro Gasparotti, executive director of real estate consultancy firm Alternaty Vietnam, there is a growing interest specifically towards Vietnam especially within the commercial sector and for income producing properties.
“There are tangibles signs of increased confidence among international investors regarding the real estate market in Vietnam,” Gasparotti noted.
A large number of investment funds and private companies were searching for deals over the past few years with limited results due to discrepancies on land value and achievable returns on investments. Investor interest dried up in 2012 and the first half of 2013 when the financial situation was unstable and the future outlook seemed bleak. Investors were increasingly focused on alternative investment destinations such as Myanmar and Indonesia, he added.
However, Gasparotti noted that over the past few months, as the financial situation seems to have stabilised with inflation brought under control, interest from these groups has returned because Vietnam offers more value oriented opportunities. At the same time, the opportunities in competing markets in South East Asia seem to be diminishing.
According to Rudolf Hever, another executive director of Alternaty, there were fundamental changes and game changing trends occurring right now in the region.
“Those who will prosper over the next decade will be the ones who recognise and embrace the opportunities that are emerging,” Hever noted.
The rapid rise of the middle class in Asia is only just beginning and is led by China. This will continue into the foreseeable future with countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam.
“This segment will have a strong appetite to travel abroad, and their target destinations, one of which is clearly Vietnam, will surely feel their impact, ready or not. One only needs to look at markets such as Phuket and Pattaya, to understand the vast scale and power of this new demographic,” he added.
Vietnam is now well placed to capitalise on these new trends and we are seeing more and more investors that are anticipating and looking to capture the opportunities that are emerging.
A few problems remain to be solved, such as bad debts, but Vietnam is in much better shape than just a couple of years ago. Inflation is down, economic growth is stable and slowly ticking upwards, FDI is up, interest rates have come a long way down and the dong has remained remarkably stable over the past couple of years.
“The local developers and land owners have been through tough times, but they are now finding increasing reasons for optimism,” he added.
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