Released on June 12, the latest report from real estate consultants JLL states that Ho Chi Minh City is one of Asia’s most enterprising cities and become home to large clusters of business services, engineering, finance and retail firms, and strong creative industries.
A corner of HCM City
The city is pulling in increasing amounts of investment from large multi-national technology corporations, including Microsoft, LG, Intel and, most notably, Samsung.
It’s also the base of Vietnam’s only tech unicorn - the VNG Corporation.
It is also undergoing rapid real estate development amid increasing demand for office, retail and hotel space, with a new metro system also under construction.
The country’s tallest building, Vincom Landmark 81, is due to open later this year, while the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, a 657-ha site east of the Saigon River, is earmarked to be the new financial district.
Ho Chi Minh City is also in a prime position to benefit from wider national growth. Vietnam is one of the world’s fastest-growing countries, with a large, youthful and increasingly-educated workforce that meets its future talent needs.
Other cities listed include Bangalore in India, Shenzhen in China, Taipei in Taiwan, Guangzhou in China, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
“Increasingly, cities in emerging economies are becoming key hubs in global networks of innovation and referred to as ‘Enterprisers’,” said Mr. Jeremy Kelly, Director of Global Research at JLL.
“This group of business and enterprise hubs are major places of opportunity and magnets for workers in their country and the wider region. Usually specialized in higher-value activities, as well as manufacturing, they are among the largest cities in their national economy and have exploited their business climate advantages in recent years.”
As such, he added, they’ve been among the world’s most dynamic real estate markets in recent years and are increasingly on the radar of international real estate investors.
Yet despite their rapid growth, the Enterprisers are also facing a unique set of challenges as they aim to boost productivity and innovation to take their economies to the next level, whether ensuring a strong local talent pipeline, making their land use more efficient, or strengthening their city brand and successfully projecting it to the wider world.
VN Economic Times