KEY SECTORS CONTINUE DRIVE OFFICE DEMAND IN HCM CITY

The information-technology, pharmaceutical, banking, and high-tech sectors will remain the main engines of office demand in HCM City, experts said.

Office buildings in HCM City. The information-technology, pharmaceutical, banking, and high-tech sectors will remain the main engines of office demand in HCM City. -- Photo from Internet

HCM CITY – The information-technology, pharmaceutical, banking, and high-tech sectors will remain the main engines of office demand in HCM City, experts said.

These industries are not only seeking high-quality workspaces but also emphasising smart-building technologies and sustainable work environments, leading to a growing preference for premium offices, particularly green-certified buildings, they said.

Cushman & Wakefield projects that in 2025, HCM City will introduce 103,559sq.m of new office space from CBD projects. Between 2025 and 2027, an additional 287,539sq.m may be absorbed by the market, with a focus on the area of old Thủ Đức City, District 7, and District 1.

Moreover, the merging of Bình Dương and Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu with HCM City is expected to impact the market significantly in the near future.

Thanh Phạm, head of Research & Consulting at CBRE Vietnam in HCM City, discussed the implications, stating: “With the recent administrative merger of HCM City, Bình Dương, and Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu now officially in effect, the expanded office market is projected to reach nearly 1.9 million sq.m of net leasing areas [NLA] by 2025. The major supply still concentrates in former HCM City, yet Grade B rents may face downward adjustments due to increased supply across the unified region, while Grade A offices are expected to remain largely unaffected.”

Supply and absorption in second quarter

In the second quarter of 2025, the HCM City office market saw new supply while witnessing declining net absorption.

Cushman & Wakefield reported that in the second quarter, the HCM City office market recorded one new Grade B project, adding over 5,500sq.m of leasable space. This brought total existing stock in HCM City to approximately 1.64 million sq.m of leasable office space, up 0.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 1.4 per cent year-on-year.

In Q2 2025, net absorption in HCM City declined, it said. One key driver was the migration of leasing demand to lower-grade segments or from CBD to CBD Fringe, where rents are more reasonable and new projects benefit from fully completed infrastructure.

In its report, CBRE reported that the second quarter of this year saw over 87,000sq.m NLA of new supply, which included the completion of one Grade A project — Marina Central Tower in old District 1, and two Grade B buildings in old District 3 — Yteco Tower and Halo Signature Building. These new completions began leasing at the end of the second quarter. As a result, the Grade A overall market vacancy rate in the second quarter stood at 22.8 per cent, representing a 2.0 percentage point increase year-on-year.

Excluding newly added office buildings, the average vacancy rate for Grade A offices in HCM City was recorded at 14.8 per cent, a slight increase of 0.1 percentage points compared to the same period last year, but a decrease of 2.2 percentage points quarter-on-quarter. Grade A offices continued to show positive net absorption, totaling over 18,000sq.m NLA in the first half of 2025, 1,400sq.m NLA higher than the same period in 2024.

Recent buildings in decentralised areas, such as The Mett, The Hallmark, and UOA Tower, all achieved high occupancy rates, each exceeding 90 per cent. The average asking rents for Grade A offices rose by 1.1 per cent over the same period in 2024, reaching US$46.5 per square metre per month, driven mainly by buildings completed between 2023 and 2024.

Meanwhile, the vacancy rate for Grade B offices increased by 2.7 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 12.5 per cent in Q2 2025. However, excluding new supply, the vacancy rate for the quarter decreased to 10.7 per cent, down by 1.1 percentage points compared to the previous quarter. The average asking rent for Grade B offices in Q2 2025 reached $26.8 per square metre per month, marking a 2.1 per cent year-on-year increase, primarily due to rental increases in buildings located in old District 1, District 3, and the Thủ Thiêm area. – VNS

Source: VNS