VietNamNet Bridge - Many foreign investment funds and real estate traders are looking for land to enter the HCM City real estate market in 2015.

In early 2015, a real estate investment fund from Luxembourg has ordered Vietnamese partners to seek land in districts of 8, 9, Thu Duc, Binh Tan, Tan Phu, and Nha Be to build condominiums.

This investor wants to buy 3,000 to 30,000 m2 of land, to build high-rise apartment blocks for middle-income earners, at the price of about VND1 billion ($50,000)/apartment.

This investor also seeks local partners to develop real estate projects in HCM City.

In the report about the real estate market in HCM City published in early January, CBRE Vietnam mentioned the deal between Keppel Land and Tien Phuoc Company, under which Keppel Land bought Tien Phuoc’s land.

In addition, two foreign investors - Tung Shin and Lemongrass Master Fund - have acquired the Movenpick Saigon project (hotel) and Indochina Park Tower project (serviced apartments).

In the first week of January 2015, real estate millionaire Kevin Green (who owns 800 properties of all kinds in the UK) met with Vietnamese partners in HCM City.

According to President of Khai Hoan Land Real Estate Company, Nguyen Khai Hoan, Green revealed that he and his partners are interested in the Vietnamese market.

In late 2014, a Japanese investment fund - Creed Group - announced that it would purchase shares of three real estate projects of the Nam Bay Bay Investment JSC.

In early 2015, one of these projects - City Gate (located on Vo Van Kiet Avenue, Ho Chi Minh City) - has been resumed with foreign funds.

The chairman of the Green Land Corporation, Mr. Luong Tri Thin, said that the real estate market in HCM City in particular and Vietnam in general has attracted the attention of international investors in the past six to 12 months. The market has welcomed familiar names from Asia such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, and many investors from Europe and the US.

Thin said that the acquisitions, mergers, investments and joint ventures in real estate are moving strongly, with positive signs shown through the rising inflow of foreign capital into real estate.

The recent loosening of policy for foreign investment contained in the revised Investment Law, the Housing Law and the Real Estate Business Law is also motivating foreign investors, he said.

The Executive Director of CBRE Vietnam, Marc Townsend, said the interest of foreign investors in Vietnam's real estate market remains strong, with a particular focus on Ho Chi Minh City and big cities.

"The real estate market of Vietnam needs more a  practical and transparent approach for international investors to more deeply integrate into the local market," he commented.

Son Tung