The news that condotels, resort villas and officetels will be granted a red book, or land use right certificate, was good news. Le Dinh Chung, SGO Homes CEO, said real estate with red books can sell more easily as buyers feel secure about the legal status of the property and can borrow money from banks to buy it. 

However, he noted that resort real estate would recover later than other market segments.

“In 2024-2025, the market focus will still be housing products, industrial zone and office buildings for lease,” Chung said.

Resort real estate is mostly located in large cities, with long-term ownership. It can be used as accommodation or leased for profits. There are signs of the market segment getting warmer, but it won’t fully recover until 2026, according to Chung.

The large cities of Quang Ninh, Da Nang and Nha Trang are expected to see recovery sooner as they are famous tourist sites and are not new markets. Meanwhile, the other areas such as Quy Nhon, Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan will need more time to recover.

Many real estate investors are selling resort real estate at prices 30-40 percent lower than the buy prices. 

Meanwhile, Nguyen Chi Thanh, deputy chair of the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VAR), believes that resort real estate is valuable and its value will increase over time. If the real estate products have legal status, high quality and reasonable prices, they are worth buying.

“Resort real estate products with long-term ownership have bigger advantages than  products which have red books but limited ownership time,” Thanh said. 

VAR reported that 3,165 tourism-resort real estate products were launched into the market in 2023, a sharp fall of 80 percent compared with 2022.

The supply sources were mostly in the central region (1,200 products), or 38 percent of the total supply.

In the first half of 2023, investors delayed sale plans because they thought resort real estate would have low liquidity amid the gloomy market. Resort real estate products have high value and people might not spend money in difficult conditions. But liquidity began seeing improvement in the third quarter.

Nguyen Le