Leading design companies from Japan visited Vietnam developers this week, sharing ideas during a seminar and networking event held on June 29 in Ho Chi Minh City .

The Vietnamese property market has an increasingly strong position in Southeast Asia and many opportunities for international developers and business partners, according to the Japanese developers.

The developers, Nomura Real Estate Development, Marubeni Corporation and Mori Building , are three of the top design companies in Japan . Marubeni established a joint venture with the Sun Wah Group to develop Sun Wah Tower in HCM City .

At the seminar, Mark Townsend, managing director of CBRE Vietnam, gave insights into the Vietnamese property market.

In the office market in HCM City , the second quarter of this year saw demand for Grade A buildings slide to less than half of that witnessed in the previous quarter, he said.

Grade B absorption was also notably down, and the two sectors combined contributed just over 15,000sq.m of net absorption in the second quarter compared to almost 30,000sq.m in the first quarter.

Japan 's third largest architectural design Kume Design Asia also delivered a presentation on architecture and design at the seminar.

In addition, international design company GARDE organised a seminar for the first time in Vietnam featuring insights into the property market in the country.

The seminar was part of GARDE's annual Asian Research Tour, which GARDE organises each year for Japanese businesses and clients to exchange ideas with regional developers and investigate investment opportunities.
Headquartered in Tokyo, GARDE provides consulting services and interior design for a wide variety of projects ranging from retail, department stores and shopping malls, to residential, hospitality, food and beverage projects and corporate interiors.-VNA