Industrial Zone (IZ) developers are pocketing big money as Vietnam is welcoming new foreign investors

Trang Bui, CEO of Cushman Wakefield, said total demand of industrial land in northern Vietnam is 13,600 hectares and the average rent per sq m is $139 in Hanoi, $130 in Bac Ninh, $121 in Hai Phong, $113 in Vinh Phuc, $112 in Hung Yen, $98 in Hai Duong and $90 in Quang Ninh.

The total supply of ready-built workshops in the north is 2.5 million sq m with rent of $3.5-$3.7/sq m per month. A 1.8 million sq m workshop has average rent of $3.5-5.6/sq m per month.

According to Do Thi Thu Hang from Savills Vietnam, IZs in HCM City, Binh Duong and Dong Nai have very little land left. The occupancy rate in six key provinces and cities is 84 percent with average rent of approximately VND3.5 million/sq m for a cycle of 50 years.

Vietnam has 563 IZs with a total area of 210,900 hectares, of which 406 have become operational. Hang said that rental demand will continue increasing because of the relocation of supply chains to Vietnam.

A recent survey found that revenue of 13 industrial real estate firms reached VND7.239 trillion in Q3/2022, up nearly 68 percent year-on-year.

Fore example, Viglacera reported revenue of VND3.212 trillion and pretax profit of VND308 billion for Q3 and its profit mainly came from industrial real estate.

Idico (IDC) reported revenue of VND2.053 trillion for Q3, 2.3 times up year-on-year, mostly from land leasing at projects belonging to Phu My 2, expanded Phu My 2 IZs, Huu Thanh, My Xuan B1 - Conac. 

KBC reported revenue of VND203.2 billion for this period. It has recently leased 50 hectares of land in Bac Ninh to a company in the hi-tech field. 

Developing industrial real estate is a profitable business field, which explains why even foreign real estate developers have jumped in this field.

VSIP has started construction of the 11th IZ in Vietnam on 1,000 hectares. JD Future Explore V Limited has started building 97,000 sq m JD Property Hai Phong 1 logistics area at the non-tariff area and Nam Dinh Vu IZ.

In June 2022, BWID kicked off Project 16 – the ready-built BW Phu Nghia warehouse in Phu Nghia IZ in Hanoi. CLD has also invested $1 billion to develop the IZ and logistics area and first CLD’s urban area in Vietnam.

Duy Anh