DOMESTIC PROPERTY MARKET FACING UNCERTAINTY: INSIDERS

The domestic real estate market is hoped to have growth in the fourth quarter of this year and before the Lunar New Year 2021 if, by this year-end, the domestic economy is restored to levels from before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to insiders.

This is the most positive scenario forecast by Tran Kim Chung, deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, about the real estate market this year.

However, in the second and more likely scenario, the domestic and global economies will recover only gradually and the local real estate market will be quiet but not collapse.

In the worst scenario, Chung said the market would freeze and trading would stop due to the domestic economy facing many difficulties in the context of an uncontrolled pandemic and unsatisfactory global economy.

Chung also said agricultural real estate was still looking for measures to develop because of a lack of mechanisms, policies and products to develop the market.

Meanwhile, housing real estate market had three segments attracting customers, including land plots in suburban areas, affordable housing and social housing, Chung said. The high-end housing segment needed new drivers.

Trang Bui, JLL Vietnam's market director, said the housing market was expected to have stable growth due to housing demand. Mid-price housing products consistent with the financial ability of the majority of customers would lead the market in the long term. Investors and customers who have real demand would seek finished housing products.

Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association (HoREA), said in the coming years, the domestic market would still have high demand for affordable apartments while the supply of this segment was limited at present.

Therefore, to have sustainable development on the domestic property market, there is a need for more investment in the affordable apartment segment, according to Chau

This kind of property attracts many customers and investors, especially middle- and low-income people and workers in big urban areas. Affordable apartments also have high liquidity.

Foreigners’ housing demand is increasing in the domestic property market. Nguyen Duc Them, Project Sales Manager, Savills Vietnam, said.

Source: VIR