Industrial real estate expected to be a highlight this year and in 2021 hinh anh 1Batdongsan.com.vn holds the release of a market report for the third quarter on October 6 in Hanoi. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Industrial real estate will be a highlight this year and next, despite the sector as a whole struggling with the impact of COVID-19, according to Nguyen Quoc Anh, Deputy Director General of Batdongsan.com.vn, the leading property website in Vietnam.

Industrial properties around the country have become more attractive to foreign investors thanks to the new EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), shifts in global manufacturing bases, and its effective control of the coronavirus, Anh said at the release of a market report for the third quarter on October 6 in Hanoi.

Batdongsan.com.vn’s Q3 market report shows that industrial real estate enjoyed impressive growth during the period, while COVID-19 continued to cast a long shadow over other sub-sectors.

Data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment reveals that 336 industrial parks (IPs) were established in the first half of this year, 261 of which have been put into operation, on an area of 29,100 ha.

Searches for IPs were on the rise from June to September, according to the report. Compared to the same period last year, searches for Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) Bac Ninh rose 22 percent, Tan Binh IP 20 percent, Hiep Phuoc IP 23 percent, and Tan Tao IP 37 percent.

Prices of land lots near IPs in Bac Ninh’s Tu Son and Yen Phong districts rose 1 percent quarter-on-quarter, while those in Binh Duong’s Di An and Thuan An districts also grew considerably.

The COVID-19 resurgence in late July and early August landed a punch on the chin of the real estate market. This was followed by the seventh month of the lunar calendar, known as the “Ghost Month” and during which people around the country avoid making big decisions like home purchases.

However, a survey conducted by the site indicates that real estate remains the leading investment channel. Even when the gold price hit a record high, 57 percent of the site’s users still leaned towards real estate as their choice of investment. And some 58 percent of respondents said they would still purchase properties during the Ghost Month, Anh said.

Condos remain the most popular choice, accounting for 29 percent of searches on the site, followed by land lots (23 percent). Some 64 percent of respondents said they would rather buy a condo than a house down a small laneway.

The site forecast that real estate prices would pick up by about 1.4 percent in Hanoi and fall by some 2 percent in HCM City in the final quarter of the year./.
VNA