VN property market looks to up transparency

Experts say that Viet Nam needs reliable and accurate real estate market information.

Although there are currently many sources for market information--real estate associations, property services firms such Savills, CBRE, JLL and Cushman Wakefield as well as the Ministry of Construction--the information is rarely consistent among market research firms.

In addition, the construction ministry has failed to provide regular market updates and transform the real estate market and housing information system into a reliable source.

Ultimately, experts say that real estate market information of Viet Nam still lacks accuracy and reliability.

Economist Le Ba Chi Nhan said that property market supply and demand information remains very confusing. Consultant firms provide their own sales figures every quarter, but the figures largely differ.

For example, Savills Viet Nam’s report revealed that nearly 11,600 apartments were sold in the second quarter in HCM City, touching a six-year high. The CBRE Viet Nam figure was 9,522.

Savills forecasted that mid-end segment would dominant the supply in the future, while CBRE said high-end segment would improve the second half of this year, and JLL said low-priced housing would lead the market.

Nhan said that these figures were mainly not verified by any independent organisations. Thus, they lacked reliability.

Dang Hung Vo said that market information must be provided adequately to prevent misunderstanding.

For instance, Ha Noi and HCM City recently announced projects at banks, but the announcements failed to mention details and caused confusions and misunderstandings.

Market transparency requires that information be regularly updated, accessed easily and equally, Vo said.

Le Hoang Chau, President of HCM City Real Estate Association, said the Law on Real Estate Business does not specify which organsations and companies can provide market reports. This means anyone can provide their own figures. Of course, each has their own statistical method.

Chau said the construction ministry must develop a market information system, which would provide regular updates about transactions, mortgaged projects as well as planning and policies as a reliable source to ensure market development on the right track.

However, a ministry representative said that real estate price index is just being developed, and it will take time to complete the database.

In 2016, the JLL global real estate transparency index ranked Viet Nam 68 among 109 countries, indicating that Vietnamese property market has low transparency due to difficult access to planning information and the lack of market database.