Demand surges

Only two small investment projects were licensed in the HCMC Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) in the first five months of the year with total investment capital of $7 million, a low figure if noting that $500 million worth of investment pledged in SHTP each year.

According to the hi-tech park board of management, many investors have come to learn about investment opportunities so far this year, but there is little clean land that can satisfy the requirements.

The representative of the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) confirmed that there has been no land for new investors in the last half year. Though the building of infrastructure items in VSIP 3 IZ has not been completed, tens of investors have registered to lease land.

Meanwhile, the rent in expanded VSIP 2 in 2018 saw a sharp increase of 30 percent compared with 2017 to $85 per square meter.

Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon reported that the rents in other IZs are even higher.

In Dong Nai province, IZs have set rents at $80-100 per square meter and the occupancy rate there is always higher than 75 percent. In 2018, the province attracted $1.85 billion worth of foreign capital, or 85 percent higher than planned. About 150 hectares of land in IZs were leased last year, or 50 percent higher than planned.

In Long An province, 16 IZs have an occupancy rate of over 80 percent. Since the demand is high, the rent in the locality has hit $100-140 per square meter.

According to JLL Vietnam, the industrial land in the south in Q4 2018 had rent of $80 per square meter on average, an increase of 11 percent over Q2. HCMC always led the southern market with rent of $156.8 per square meter. Ready-built workshops have a high occupancy rate of 88 percent.

The high occupancy rate of industrial land is explained by the sharp rise in FDI in the manufacturing & processing sector, from 46.7 percent of total pledged capital in 2018 to 71.8 percent in the first months of 2019, thanks to the CPTPP and US-China trade war.

Capital flowing to industrial infrastructure

Gaw Capital Partners joined NP Capital Partners recently to set up a $200 million industrial real estate investment fund,m to satisfy the high demand for high-quality storehouses, forwarding services and ready-built workshops.

Meanwhile, BW Industrial, a joint venture between Warburg Pincus and Becamex IDC, has found land in Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Hai Phong, Hai Duong and Bac Ninh to develop projects.

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