Real estate remains attractive to foreign investors

Hanoi (VNA) - With a total registered capital of nearly 1.6 billion USD during January-August, real estate continued to rank third among 18 sectors in attracting foreign investment (FDI).

Although the figure was much lower than the 2.87 billion USD in the same period last year, experts said that this is reasonable as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for investors to make fact-finding tours and have investment decisions.

However, the industrial property segment is still considered a bright spot with new industrial zones established and key industrial projects beginning operations.

This year has witnessed new M&A deals and improvement in industrial land supply. The largest manufacturing projects in the first half of 2021 came from Hong Kong (China) and Singaporean investors that targeted northern Quang Ninh and Bac Giang provinces.

According to data from Savills Hong Kong (China), Vietnam is still an attractive investment destination for foreign investors. In the context of the complicated developments of the pandemic, Vietnam is the only country in the world that has been upgraded to a positive rating by all three international credit rating agencies namely Moody's, S&P and Fitch.

Foreign investors such as Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore that have a strategy of expanding and diversifying investment channels also look to emerging markets or frontier markets like Vietnam to seek profits, Savills experts analysed.

Economist Dinh Trong Thinh attributed an increase in FDI inflows into Vietnam's real estate sector to political stability, positive economic growth, stable inflation, no major fluctuations in the financial and monetary market and high determination to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, the urbanisation process in Vietnam, a rapid increase in the urban population and rising per capita income have also created more room for the development of the property sector, he added.

Experts said that the signing of many free trade agreements, most recently the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), has made Vietnam become an attractive destination for many foreign investors./.