HANOI, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Demand for low-cost apartments with a price tag of below 1.5 billion Vietnamese dong (around 66,000 U.S. dollars) will continue to increase this year, local experts said.
Vietnam's realty market in 2018 will thrive in the low-end and mid-end segments, meeting demand of low and medium-income earners in urban areas, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association on Tuesday.
Higher demand for affordable apartments will make many property developers lower prices of high-end apartments, local realty experts said, noting that they are paying more attention to building low-cost commercial houses.
Foreign investment in Vietnam's real estate sector will increase to around 3 billion U.S. dollars a year in the next five years, the experts predicted, noting that foreign investment in the sector stood at 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.
Since Vietnam adopted the Law on Housing in 2014, some 2,000 foreigners have been granted certificates of land use right, house ownership and other properties associated with the land in the country, according to statistics from the Ministry of Construction. The number of foreigners seeking to buy villas and apartments in Vietnam's big cities is on the rise.
The number of residential property transactions in Hanoi capital and Ho Chi Minh City in November 2017 stood at 3,000. By the end of November 2017, Vietnam's property inventory was reported at 25.7 trillion Vietnamese dong (1.1 billion U.S. dollars), down 26 percent against December 2016, according to the ministry's Housing and Real Estate Department.
The inventory value has gradually decreased from the peak in the first quarter of 2013 (some 5.7 billion U.S. dollars) when the market was flooded with new constructions and slow sales.
