Challenges from new demands

Accordingly, the industrial real estate sector continues to maintain its "heat" with a strong growth in the number of newly implemented projects, along with an increasingly "abundant" source of FDI capital. The occupancy rate of industrial parks (IPs) that have come into operation has maintained a stable growth rate, reaching about 75%. Of which, the key northern provinces reached 82% and the key southern provinces reached 92%.

However, the occupancy rate of established industrial parks is still difficult to increase due to the supply and demand "waiting" for each other. Because industrial park investors can only find new customers to invest in infrastructure while investors only decide to invest in projects that already have infrastructure. The challenge of this type also comes from the requirement to "green" industrial parks, meet the increasing demands of investors and orient sustainable development.

Similarly, the commercial real estate sector, both office and retail, continues to grow with great potential in the long term due to the increasing demand in both scale and quality. Modern, high-end offices, with green certification, meeting sustainable development standards continue to attract tenants, especially foreign enterprises.

New shopping malls, integrating many activities, also continue to be popular. Meanwhile, old office buildings, old shopping malls, not actively renovated and upgraded, along with small townhouses on prime streets, record increasingly high vacancy rates.

In addition, Mr. Chung also mentioned the difficulties of the tourism and resort real estate market. Specifically, in the third quarter of 2024, the Vietnamese tourism and resort real estate market recorded about 945 new products, a sharp decrease of only 35% compared to the previous quarter and equivalent to the same period in 2023. This decline was mainly due to the new supply in the previous quarter arising locally from a large project. In general, in the first 9 months of 2024, the entire tourism and resort market recorded 4,059 new products for sale, an increase of 80% compared to the same period in 2023 but only reaching 25% compared to the same period in 2022.

Commenting on the real estate market in the final period of 2024, VARS also forecasts that if factors such as legal policies, finance and public investment continue to improve, the market will likely continue to "heat up" in the final period of the year when the new legal corridor officially comes into effect, when investors continue to accelerate project implementation,... In particular, housing supply will continue to be promoted, creating a driving force for the market, through M&A activities.

An important emphasis mentioned in the report is that the State will continue to strengthen market supervision and regulation, ensuring stability and proper development. At the same time, the green real estate trend is emerging, expected to lead the market in the new cycle.

The types that will continue to record recovery include: luxury apartments continue to lead the market, villas and townhouses become more vibrant, land with clean legal status attracts investors, and social housing (NOXH) will have more opportunities thanks to new regulations. Industrial real estate will grow, resort real estate will have the opportunity to improve thanks to Condotel being granted a number.

Real estate businesses need to be proactive with new trends

In the context of the increasingly improved legal corridor, VARS recommends that investors, trading floors and real estate brokers need to proactively update and promptly grasp new changes. At the same time, businesses need to adjust their business strategies to suit the legal corridor and market development trends.

Specifically, VARS recommends that investors should promote research and development of products in line with trends and affordability of the majority of people. Real estate trading floors must enhance their responsibility in legal appraisal of projects, to ensure the selection of quality projects for distribution. For real estate brokers, participating in training programs and taking professional certification exams is an important step to build professionalism and reputation in the profession.

In addition, investors, trading floors and real estate brokers should focus on their strengths, avoid "spreading out and taking on too much" which reduces operational efficiency, disperses resources and makes it difficult to achieve optimal results. In all activities, the general market should be taken as the key. It is necessary to clearly define that if the market is healthy, then real estate businesses and brokers will be healthy. Only then will customers and investors feel secure.

In particular, this research unit believes that the real estate market is in a transitional phase, so it will be very sensitive to positive or negative influences from the subjects. Slight growth in some segments can create a strong recovery momentum if the supporting factors from policies, infrastructure and finance are met. However, the story of increasing real estate prices, if not intervened early, will lead to many consequences for the market and for society.

To solve this situation, the State needs to soon have support measures to clear the way for affordable commercial housing projects, social housing and have more recovery policies for the resort real estate market. At the same time, VARS believes that it is necessary to have the participation and companionship of all entities related to the operation of the real estate market.