The hotel room occupancy rate in Ho Chi Minh City in the first half of this year stood at 64%, reaching over 92% of the level in the first six months of 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, according to Savills Vietnam.

Countries like Vietnam and Indonesia could be beneficiaries if firms start to look for low-cost production centres in Asia, particularly for labour-intensive and low-margin industries, Savills Asia Pacific has said.

The market is witnessing a significant number of mergers and acquisitions as large corporations and investment funds quietly acquire real estate businesses and projects in Vietnam.

Although the real estate sector has suffered a fall in foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, experts are still optimistic about its prospects of the sector, especially the industrial segment which is described as a bright spot.

A new government decree is expected to help remove difficulties for the domestic leisure property market, which is experiencing a 10-year low in demand, experts have said.

Industrial real estate has been a bright spot in the market thanks to a large amount of foreign investment inflows, great potential and high absorption capacity, according to experts.

The real estate sector ranks second in foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction in the first quarter of 2023 with US$766 million, accounting for 14.1% of total FDI.

Increasing foreign investment is expected to come to industrial, logistics properties in Vietnam, pushing the growth of the sector, according to insiders.

Vietnam’s industrial real estate sector has great potential for developing more projects related to data centres, cold storages and logistics, according to John Campbell, Associate Director, Head of Industrial Services at Savills Vietnam - the largest and most experienced real estate services company in the Southeast Asian nation.

Vietnam’s hotel industry has been slower to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic than that of other countries due to a series of factors, including strong reliance on the Chinese market and a large pipeline of hotels, according to Savills Hotels APAC.