HCM City office occupancy rate at record high

HCM City (VNA) – The office occupancy rate in HCM City reached an average of 94 percent, according to a report on the HCM City and Hanoi office markets made in the third quarter by Savills Vietnam.

The rate for A-level office space is 96 percent, for B-level offices, it is 94 percent, and C-level offices, 92 percent.

Rental prices are an average of 563,000 VND (25 USD) per sq.m each month, up 3 percent from the second quarter.

The total office space supply in HCM City reached 1.5 million sq.m from 22 projects, up 4 percent over the second quarter. It is expected to increase to 1.6 million sq.m by the end of 2016.

CBRE Vietnam said the office-for-lease market in HCM City will not have new space in the third quarter in both A-level and B-level categories, and this will help reduce the existing empty area in these categories.

The occupancy rate will increase at new office buildings, but remains stable in old buildings. Foreign companies have been searching for big areas to lease long term and re-lease with many successful transactions. They are searching for buildings to buy for use as well.

Customers with the highest rental demand are in the fields of information technology-electronics, trade, finance-banking, logistics and media-marketing.

Stephen Wyatt, General Director of Jones LaSalle Vietnam, said that the HCM City property market has a stable supply, but an economy with a strong growth rate will boost demand in the next five years.

The expansion of the supporting service sector will boost the demand for office area and entail the increase of rental prices, especially in the context of limited supplies of new projects.

According to the HCM City People’s Committee, since the beginning of 2015 the city has attracted 3.08 billion USD in foreign investment, up 4.8 percent from 2014.-VNA