Lack of transparency holds back Vietnam's real estate market

By Dam Tuan July 26, 2016 | 04:30 pm PT

A national data base is needed to support investors and home buyers.

Vietnam's real estate market has been ranked 68 out of 109 countries and territories in Africa, Asia and South America in terms of transparency, according to the 2016 Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI), which was recently released by JLL and LaSalle Investment Management.

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Vietnam's real estate market ranked in the bottom four countries in Asia Pacific for transparency on the Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2016. Photo courtesy of CBRE Vietnam

“Regulatory reforms will be essential for further progress in transparency and many governments appear to be taking steps forward," the GRETI report said. "For example, Vietnam has proposed launching a national real estate database in a bid to improve the availability and accuracy of market information.”

In Asia Pacific, the countries with the highest transparency levels were Australia (2), New Zealand (6), Singapore (11) and Hong Kong (15), while the bottom positions were occupied by Myanmar (95), Macau (70), Sri Lanka (69) and Vietnam (68).

The JLL Global Real Estate Transparency Index is based on a combination of quantitative market data and information gathered through a survey of the global business network of JLL and LaSalle Investment Management across 109 markets in 2016, up from 102 in 2014.

Nguyen Ha Nhi Duyen, the director of JLL Vietnam’s Valuation Advisory Services, said that limited access to information on planning and the absence of a market database were holding back Vietnam’s real estate valuation.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s newspaper quoted Duyen as saying that Vietnam needs to develop an official information channel for real estate investors and house buyers who depend mainly on property brokers or real estate companies. The valuation of commercial properties such as office buildings, hotels or shopping malls is often hard to calculate due to a lack of transparency and accurate information, she said.

Duyen added that the data that assists investors’ decisions is only based on the latest financial statements so relevant data need to be more transparent and regularly updated for a precise valuation in a fickle real estate market like Vietnam's.

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