VinaCapital’s flagship fund the Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF) and Dragon Capital last month announced they spent $21 million acquiring a 25 per cent stake in the Century Land JSC (CenLand), one of Vietnam’s leading real estate brokerages and the leader in the northern region. CenLand has focused on traditional sales channels since 2002, with its popular real estate supermarket system STDA, and has developed its online brokerage platform Nghemoigioi.vn over the last two years. Online channels contributed to the surging number of the company’s transactions in 2017, at 11,555, an increase of 20 per cent against 2016, thanks to real estate support technology. “Online real estate has seen impressive growth of more than 60 per cent over the last three years and is expected to continue growing into the future,” said Ms. Le Hoang Uyen Vy, General Partner at ESP Capital. Fertile ground In line with Vietnam’s burgeoning real estate … [Read more...] about Online real estate brokerage gaining acceptance
Real estate market trends
Banks tighten real estate loans amid land fever in Vietnam
Many lenders have recently increased interest rates and tightened lending for real estate loans due to concerns about bad debts amid land fever in Vietnam. They have increased mortgage rates by 1-2 percentage points over the past few months. Viecombank and OCB, have set interest rates of around 10.5 percent and 11.5 percent respectively for real estate loans over 12-24-month terms. Meanwhile, other lenders offer rates of 12-12.5 percent. Banks are also offering loans at no more than 70 percent of the property’s value, instead of the previous 80-90 percent. They attribute tightened lending to concerns over market risk as real estate credit risk has jumped from 150 percent to 250 percent in past few months. Currently, State Bank of Vietnam only allows banks to lend 40 percent of short-term mobilization funds for long-term loans, instead of 60 percent in the past. However, real estate loans are usually long-term loans. Banks have also tightened mortgage lending in some of Ho Chi … [Read more...] about Banks tighten real estate loans amid land fever in Vietnam
Greening out real estate projects
Developers in Ho Chi Minh City are trying to realise the dream of greening out their real estate projects. Ho Chi Minh City is considered the leader in green real estate projects. Among those, Phuc Khang Construction and Investment Corporation is a pioneer in applying the American LEED green building standards in its two projects called Diamond Lotus Riverside (District 8) and Diamond Lotus Lakeview (Tan Phu District). In particular, Diamond Lotus Riverside handed over properties to more than 700 homebuyers by the end of 2017. In addition, the An Nhien Garden eco-urban complex, developed by Thang Loi Group, including the three sections An Phu-An Loc-An Dien, is a green community in the heart of the city with tree and traffic densities of nearly 40 per cent. EverRich Infinity of Phat Dat Real Estate Development Corporation, which is located in the centre of District 5, has been covered with green spaces surrounding the windows, not to mention a system of interconnected watercourses … [Read more...] about Greening out real estate projects
Five largest foreign real estate owners named
Illustration photo Investors from Thailand, China and the U.S. are expected to invest more in Viet Nam’s realty market in the upcoming time. Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City have seen increases in new supply and transaction volume over the past years. Earlier, according to the recent report on Emerging Trends in Real Estate of PwC, one of the four largest professional audit services networks in the world, Ho Chi Minh City has developed to be ranked second in the real estate development potential in 2018, following Sydney. The city is also the only developing market city to stand out in the top five cities of Asia-Pacific region having the biggest potential for real estate investment in 2018. According to the National Financial Supervision Commission’s report on financial markets in 2017, real estate inventory of Viet Nam was some VND25.7 trillion (US$1.13 billion), a reduction of 17% compared with December 2016. … [Read more...] about Five largest foreign real estate owners named
Real estate bubble fear stirs up controversy
According to Vo Huynh Tuan Kiet, head of residential project marketing at CBRE Vietnam, the Vietnamese real estate market has experienced an unprecedented supply of new projects, with frequent launches and good net absorption.“Along with the market’s traditional segments, new products have been introduced, such as second-home villas, condotels, and officetels. Since 2015, the Vietnamese government has loosened its requirements for foreigners buying and owning properties in Vietnam, which has helped attract more foreign investors to the market,” Kiet said.Nonetheless, many experts and investors have cast doubts upon this rapid recovery, predicting underlying risks. These risks include an oversupply of high-end projects, the return of speculators, and falling market demand.The biggest concern is the risk of another property bubble akin to the one that burst in 2007 and froze the property market until 2013. The market is still paying the price for this previous … [Read more...] about Real estate bubble fear stirs up controversy
Co-living and green: the latest trends to sweep Vietnam’s real estate market
Owning real estate will no longer be a priority for millenials across the world, who will make up half of the global workforce by 2020, according to PriceWaterhouseCooper's latest Millenials at Work report. The latest trends in real estate development show that environmentally-friendly and smart co-living and co-working models promise to change Vietnam's property market in 2018. Co-living Shared accommodation is forecast to be the leading trend, as co-living and co-working spaces are becoming more popular among young people. A recent report on Global Market Perspective by Jones Lang LaSalle Vietnam shows that the main target for shared accommodation is young people, and investments have started pouring in. Many co-working spaces have opened in Hanoi over the past few years. Photo courtesy of Toong co-working space. Just last year, Ascott Limited, an international serviced residence owner-operator, introduced a new co-living brand called … [Read more...] about Co-living and green: the latest trends to sweep Vietnam’s real estate market
Real estate sector short of skilled personnel
Vietnam’s real estate sector lacks experienced and technically-skilled personnel able to implement major projects, according to the latest report on recruitment demand for senior and mid-level managers in Vietnam from Navigos Search, based on recruitment requests it received from clients in the fourth quarter of 2017. Illustrative photo The real estate market in the eastern areas of Ho Chi Minh City is heating up, with the launch of a series of projects creating a need for skilled sales consultants at investors and trading floors. The need for sales consultants and for technical personnel is expected to continue throughout 2018.Developing new products is vital for real estate companies, and they must therefore recruit experienced technical personnel. Vietnam’s human resources market, however, has failed to meet demand, with a lack of senior staff in product development, technical design, and urban planning and development.According to Navigos Search, Vietnamese … [Read more...] about Real estate sector short of skilled personnel
M&A deals in real estate projected to rise next year
Dang Xuan Minh, general director of AVM Vietnam & Vietnam M&A Forum, said the domestic property market was embarking on a second wave of M&A, after 2015, which would be fuelled by the hastened privatization of state-owned enterprises and the increasing interests of foreign investors. The M&A market was expected to touch US$8 billion this year, of which the value of property deals accounted for the largest part, Minh said, adding average value was some $50-60 million per deal. M&A deals in the real estate sector were estimated at some $2 billion this year. M&A deals in the real estate sector were estimated at some $2 billion this year. According to Phan Xuan Can, chairman of property consultancy firm Sohovietnam, the announced M&A deals in the real estate sector were just the tip of the iceberg, and many deals were not disclosed. Can estimated that the value of announced M&A deals in the real estate sector accounted for just 20-30 per cent of … [Read more...] about M&A deals in real estate projected to rise next year
New trends arise in Vietnam’s real estate market
Real estate buyers are changing their habits with a focus on real demands that include smaller and greener houses as well as co-living and co-working spaces. Nguyen Xuan Quang, CEO of real-estate developer Nam Long Investment Joint Stock Company said that five or 10 years ago consumers bought big houses which could accommodate three generations of a family. Real estate buyers prefer smaller and greener houses. He said that they preferred buying a house that could be used as an accommodation and office. Now it has changed. Consumers are mostly young people who focus on choosing a house to live and they care about the living environment. And the house they buy is just for one and two generations. Another difference is the payment method, he said, adding that in the past consumers often paid in gold but now there are more methods such as bank credit. “Vietnam is undergoing urbanization. Furthermore, the population is young so the demand is high and there is huge room to … [Read more...] about New trends arise in Vietnam’s real estate market
MA in real estate sector to increase in 2018
Dang Xuan Minh, general director of AVM Viet Nam & Vietnam M&A Forum, said the domestic property market was embarking on a second wave of M&A, after 2015, which would be fuelled by the hastened privatisation of State-owned enterprises and the increasing interests of foreign investors.The M&A market was expected to touch US$8 billion this year, of which the value of property deals accounted for the largest part, Minh said, adding average value was some $50-60 million per deal.M&A deals in the real estate sector were estimated at some $2 billion this year.According to Phan Xuan Can, chairman of property consultancy firm Sohovietnam, the announced M&A deals in the real estate sector were just the tip of the iceberg, and many deals were not disclosed.Can estimated that the value of M&A deals in the real estate sector which were announced accounted for just 20-30 per cent of the real value.In 2018, many mega deals were expected to take place, mainly in the … [Read more...] about MA in real estate sector to increase in 2018