Property woes offer opportunity for some

Since the start of the year, many real estate businesses have been actively restructuring to adapt to tighter financing and more limited product ranges. Due to a scarcity of supply, rising house prices, and delays and complications in the financing process, buyers have had difficulties in finding the right property and closing deals on them. However, the market may be entering a favourable time for buyers, according to some property investors.

“Difficult times bring opportunities for people with real needs as well as professional investors. Buyers often put their money in when the market is up, while long-term investors with foresight seek to buy when the market is in turmoil. Therefore, they often make considerable profit,” said Nguyen Minh Lan, director of Real123 brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to a number of experts, the real estate market is quiet, but many buyers still have the need to buy affordable real estate products.

"Now is a challenge for Vietnam's real estate market, but it is still interesting for foreign investors," said Nguyen Thi Thanh Thao, sales director at Phu Dong Group. "The difficulty in the current real estate market stems from many factors. Among those are the impact of the global market, the restructuring of the industry, and the changes in its related policies".

The market has just gone through a period of readily available money where mobilising capital was straightforward with low-interest rates. "Now the situation is very different as financial channels are more carefully controlled, and interest rates are increasing," Thao said.

“If the bottlenecks are not properly handled, the market may fall into crisis. Product supply continues to be limited and prices continue to increase, at the same time, developers have been forced to restructure to survive. I also expect the government to come up with some bold and effective solutions,” she added.

David Jackson, general director of Colliers, said that the recent slow pace of the real estate market was a direct consequence of the rapid growth of previous years. External macroeconomic factors, such as rising inflation and interest rates, have exacerbated the situation since mid-2022.

“I'm seeing the market start to grow more reasonably. For example, the selling price of high-end apartments has remained the same since the last quarter, with lower grades decreasing slightly”.

He expects the real estate market to remain quiet for most of 2023, depending on global economic shifts, before becoming active again towards the end of the year.

“It should be recognised that there are many bright prospects for 2023, including the government's effort to maintain the macroeconomic foundation. This is achieved by regulating credit to manufacturing sectors, swift foreign investment disbursement, and controlling inflation,” said Jackson.

Duong Thuy Dung, executive director of CBRE Vietnam, said that the first half of 2022 witnessed a recovery in the residential market, and this had been expected to continue. However, turbulence in the latter half affected the speed of recovery, as well as market sentiment.

“We forecast the difficulties to continue in 2023 with limited supply and low liquidity due to the challenge of credit accessibility for home buyers. There will be adjustments in the supply, with fewer luxury products, and the focus will be on high-end and upper-mid-end segments. The average primary price will stabilise over the next year or so,” said Dung.

Determining true attractiveness of luxury real estate in Vietnam Even in the context of global economic fluctuations, luxury real estate products are still attracting a growing customer base in Vietnam.

Room for industrial real estate development remains high due to short supply The industrial real estate sector has good prospects in 2023 due to short supply, a shift in the supply chain to Vietnam and its favourable investment policies, experts said.

Suburban real estate market awaits fresh investment wave A cold spell is flowing into investment hotbeds in the environs, making many investors disillusioned. Golden opportunities still persist, however, as the market attempts to usher in a new development circle buoyed by constantly improved infrastructure.

How predictable can 2023 become for real estate? Some experts continue to be sceptical about the possibility of the real estate market entering a calm period and freezing liquidity at this moment.