Vietnam realty joins global leaders

The ranking was released last week by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE), which put Brazil on the top position, followed by China  and India.

DTZ Debenham Tie Leung Vietnam director K. P. Singh said: “We hope this survey is a sign of returning investor confidence after a difficult year in 2010, both in terms of the Vietnam economy and property markets.” 

Meanwhile, CBRE managing director Marc Townsend said Vietnam was still attractive to foreign investors.

“We can draw encouragement from which point to a trend that Vietnam is being viewed as an attractive option for investment,” Townsend said.

According to Townsend, the ranking was among two notable comments showing the Vietnamese market was positive. The other came from Franklin Templeton emerging markets head Mark Mobius, who named Vietnam as one of three ‘Frontier Markets’ that would see excellent returns for investors, noting in particular prospects for private equity in Vietnam.

Troy Griffiths, National Director, Research and Valuation of Savills Vietnam said the AFIRE’s ranking and its remark that Vietnam was a “worth to invest” real estate market were an adequate reflection of investors’ perceptions. 

“Practically this is now occurring as private and wholesale equity enquiry has increased significantly,” he said.

“This is associated with residential development reflecting the sound fundamental conditions that Vietnam will continue to offer,” he added.

VinaCapital deputy managing director David Blackhall said Vietnam’s market was different to most other emerging markets in a number of ways.

“One of the primary points of difference for Vietnam is the fact that Vietnam has tremendous home grown consumerism, a significant amount of Vietnamese products is consumed by the local population at home meaning Vietnam does not have to rely too heavily on overseas exports markets like most other emerging economies,” he added.

He said many investors who would have invested in China or India three years ago were now looking at alternative emerging countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia.  

John Nhat Nguyen, managing director of NAC Real Estate, a property consultant in Vietnam, told VIR the news was positive for local real estate investors.

He said the ranking meant Vietnam “is a buyer market” and buyers should base on the news to make buying decisions.

AFIRE’s survey was conducted on investors currently holding more than $627 billion of real estate globally, of that $265 billion are in the US.

About 65 per cent of respondents said the US promised the best chance for price increase, far exceeding the 10 per cent of respondents choosing China, which ranks the second on the list.