Property sector lures over US$800 million in FDI in Jan-May

HCMC – The first five months of the year saw foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises pouring a total of US$806.5 million into the real estate sector, making up 11.3% of all fresh FDI approvals, according to local media reports.

The newly approved projects have total capital of US$623.3 million.

Most investors were keen on the high-end property segment given multiple incentives. According to experts, foreign investors have a lot of experience in mapping out, developing and operating high-end real estate projects.

Su Ngoc Khuong, investment director at Savills Vietnam, said the domestic property market is attractive to foreign investors owing to handsome profits, high economic growth and preferential policies for foreign investors.

As of May 20, 1,076 FDI projects had been approved with total registered capital of US$4.6 billion, up 14.6% in number of projects but down 16.8% in capital over the year-ago period. In addition, FDI investors had registered an additional US$2.49 billion for 393 operational projects in the country.

Thus, FDI capital poured into the real estate sector by May had totaled US$7.1 billion, plunging 30.8% year-on-year.

HCMC received the most newly-registered FDI capital, US$540.9 million, accounting for 11.6%, followed by Hanoi with US$525.6 million.

Among 50 countries and territories that invested in the country in the first five months of the year, South Korea took the lead with US$1 billion, representing 21.9% of the total newly-registered capital. Japan ranked second with US$904.8 million and Thailand came third with US$536.2 million, making up 19.4% and 11.5% respectively.

Manufacturing and processing sectors attracted the most foreign investment money, US$4.52 billion, which accounted for more than half of the new capital pledges, followed by real estate and wholesale/retail sectors.

Foreign investors also penetrated into the Vietnamese real estate market through mergers and acquisitions deals.

Source: The Saigon Times