Foreign Investment Agency statistics show that nearly 300 million USD worth offoreign direct investment (FDI) was poured into the property market in January,accounting for roughly 20 percent of the total FDI attraction.
Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign InvestmentEnterprises, said that the Vietnamese real estate market appeals to foreigninvestors due to two factors.
The first one is the growing middle class,which is expected to reach 33 million by 2020 from 12 million in 2012. A seriesof policies targeted to improve the investment climate and allowing foreignersto own real estate assets in Vietnam also consolidated confidence, Mai said,adding that investments in property assets promises higher returns in Vietnamthan in many other countries.
Mai said that the low- and middle- income housing market is catching the eyesof foreign investors due to land use incentives and credit. “This is a goodsign,” he said.
According to Phan Huu Thang, former Director the Foreign Investment Agency,many foreign investors and investment funds are eyeing opportunities in therealty market of the country of 90 million population.
“Opening-up policies together with rapid ubanisation are turning Vietnam’srealty market into a destination,” Thang said.
However, Thang noted that attention must be paid to attracting investors ofadequate capacity to implement projects, calling this essential to preventstagnation, which has caused significant losses.
In 2016, foreign investors poured a total of 1.3 billion USD into the realtymarket.-VNA