Urbanization is developing rapidly.

According to the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARs), Vietnam is undergoing rapid urbanization and development. The urbanization rate has increased from 30.5% in 2010 to over 42.6% in 2023 and is still on an upward trend. The target is to reach at least 45% by 2025, over 50% by 2030.

Specifically, according to statistics from the Ministry of Construction, by October 2023, the country will have 902 urban areas, including two special-class urban areas, 22 class I urban areas, 35 class II urban areas, 46 class III urban areas, and 94 urban areas. Each year, it is estimated that Vietnam's urban areas will have an additional population of 1 to 1.3 million people.

Rapid urbanization creates favorable conditions for economic development, promotes the process of labor and economic restructuring, and changes the population distribution.

However, in recent times, the urbanization process, urban planning, construction, management and development still have many limitations, occurring unevenly between regions, creating many major challenges.

The legal system related to urban construction investment lacks synchronization, causing urbanization to occur spontaneously without planning, leading to some urban areas lacking technical and social infrastructure, losing urban landscape, etc., causing negative impacts on the living environment.

Especially in urban areas, due to urban infrastructure overload, social security is not guaranteed, traffic congestion, environmental pollution, lack of jobs, social evils are rampant...

The above challenges are clearly visible when some provinces and cities in Vietnam are continuously at the top of air pollution, making people increasingly "thirsty" for green space. Especially the younger generation with better living conditions and more awareness of sustainable prices.

But with the current speed of urbanization, green spaces and water surfaces are increasingly shrinking and disappearing in Vietnam's urban environment.

According to the Department of Technical Infrastructure (Ministry of Construction), the ratio of trees per person in urban areas of Vietnam is low, only 2 - 3 m2/person, while the minimum green target of the United Nations is 10 m2 and the target of modern cities in the world is 20 - 25 m2/person. Thus, the ratio of urban trees in Vietnam is only 1/5 - 1/10 of the world.

Many investors take advantage of the green real estate project label to attract customers.

According to VARs, in the current context, green urban development has become a popular model among people and will soon become an inevitable trend of the future.

Potential investors are investing significantly in green spaces, while homebuyers' own awareness of criteria for choosing a place to live has also changed.

Faced with that real need, many investors have poured capital into green real estate. Up to now, green urban projects, focusing on amenities, human health and the surrounding environment, are becoming the top concern with sales volume surpassing other projects.

However, the actual number of projects is still modest compared to the demand and the number of projects built over the past decade. Because many investors want to do green construction but do not have experience.

Many investors are concerned that building and developing green buildings will increase investment costs by 20-30% or even higher.

In fact, according to studies around the world, green buildings require an increase in investment capital of 3 - 8% compared to conventional investment, but will save 15 - 30% of energy used, reduce 30 - 35% of carbon emissions, save 30 - 50% of water used, and 50 - 70% of waste treatment costs.

In addition, many people do not have a correct understanding of green buildings. This is also a loophole for many investors to take advantage of, using the label of green real estate projects to promote themselves in order to increase the ability to attract, rotate capital and expand the customer base.

Therefore, to realize Vietnam's green economic growth goal, VARs leaders believe that, first of all, State management agencies need to soon develop and implement a process of assessment, certification, and certification of green materials, equipment, and buildings with specific numbers and quantities.

There are many green building standard assessment systems being applied in the world such as Edge (of the IFC organization under the World Bank); Green Mark (Singapore), Leed (USA),...

At the same time, there should be specific incentive mechanisms for green buildings that use energy economically and efficiently to attract businesses to participate in the construction and development of green buildings.

Businesses also need to promptly reposition their development products to benefit from incentives and the growing demand for green living.

In addition, it is necessary to promote propaganda, dissemination and raise awareness for relevant subjects about using energy economically and using environmentally friendly equipment.