The real estate market continues to have high potential due to the nation's rapid rate of urbanisation and steadily increasing demand, Tran Ngoc Chinh, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Urban Planning and Development, said at a conference on the property and real estate financing market held in Hanoi on April 10.

Vietnam has reached a 31 percent urbanisation rate with 756 urban areas and 70 million square metres of new housing coming on the market every month, he said.

The property market has been recovering from its doldrums at the end of 2010, said Nguyen Manh Ha, head of the Ministry of Construction's housing department.

The supply of low-income housing has increased, and the State has issued regulations to increase the transparency of the property market and create more favourable conditions for real estate investors, he said.

However, Le Xuan Nghia, vice chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Commission, said the development of the real estate market in Hanoi has lagged behind other locales nationwide, including Hai Phong, Da Nang , Binh Duong, Dong Nai and HCM City .

The supply of property in Hanoi is likely to catch up with demand over the next 10 years, Nghia said. Many people nationwide with good financial conditions want to buy an apartment or house for their children to study and live in the capital city, due to the city's good living standards, he added.

However, former minister of trade Truong Dinh Tuyen said development of the domestic real estate market is unsustainable due to tightening capital and credit available for real estate projects.

Authorities also need to carefully evaluate proposed property projects before granting a licence and closely monitor construction progress to avoid creating an imbalance between supply and demand in segments on the real estate market, Tuyen said. /.