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The HCM City housing market showed signs of unsustainability in 2018 due to an imbalance between supply and demand, a property industry business group said.

The purchasing power of apartments in Ho Chi Minh City has decreased significantly and yet, the demand for land for residential purposes is still recording positive signals.

The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into real estate in Ho Chi Minh City has followed the same trend as with the FDI movement into the country, with the property sector always among the top FDI recipients in recent years.

The affordable apartment segment will be the star of the property market in the coming years, but its supply is increasingly scarce while the demand for this type of apartment remains high, according to an analysis by property services firm CBRE Vietnam.

Condominiums remain the best bet for people living in big cities thanks to their affordable prices, and not surprisingly the HCM City apartment market is showing signs of recovering after the slowdown caused by the Carina Plaza fire at the beginning of this year, insiders said.

The HCM City housing market will continue to grow this year, especially the 1 billion VND (44,000 USD) condo segment, the HCM City Real Estate Association (HoREA) has predicted.

The government will have breakthroughs in the reform of legal regulations and business investment conditions for the domestic real estate market this year, according to experts.

The HCM City Department of Construction allowed developers Quoc Cuong Gia Lai and Ha Do to sell future properties at their projects in districts 7 and 10, respectively.

The property market will continue to grow this year, the HCM City Real Estate Association (HoREA) predicts.

Next year is likely to be a fiercely competitive one for real-estate companies in Ho Chi Minh City since scores of new projects are set to hit the market, analysts said.

The HCM City Real Estate Association has proposed the State Bank of Vietnam raise a stimulus package similar to its previous 30 trillion VND (1.3 billion USD) preferential home loan package.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has asked relevant departments to tackle problems in granting house ownership certificates to overseas Vietnamese to encourage their investment into the real estate market.

Ho Chi Minh City plans to put projects under the Build-Transfer (BT) investment model under more scrutiny by auctioning land instead of offering it in exchange for infrastructure.

The HCM City Real Estate Association has urged the Government to ensure condotels and officetels are not used primarily as apartments.

The mid-priced apartment segment in Ho Chi Minh City is developing strongly with demand and supply and liquidity all looking up, especially in the eastern part, experts said.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has scrapped construction permits for individual houses on a trial basis in residential areas where the 1/500 scale detailed planning is complete.

The HCM City Real Estate Association on August 10 asked the local Electricity of Vietnam (EVN HCMC) branch to pay for building the electricity grid for projects being incurred by developers.

The HCM City Real Estate Association (HOREA) has proposed the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)'s regulations on lending limits and capital adequacy ratio requirements for credit institutions.

Around 1,000 foreigners have registered to buy homes in HCM City, especially luxury ones, six months after the 2014 Housing Law went into force, according to the HCM City Real Estate Association.