Hanoi (VNA) - The real estate market in Hanoi is graduallyrecovering and may see a lot of development prospects in the time to come,according to analysts from property consultation company Savills Vietnam.

The market showed signs of recovery incommercial leasing activities, serviced apartments, housing purchases, andhotel room rental capacity.

In terms of the retail market, supply is assessed as beingunderactive. Demand for retail space is focused mainly on supermarkets,convenience stores, healthcare services, and food and beverage outlets.Meanwhile, fashion and cosmetics show signs of slowing in terms of demand.

In the first half of this year, Hanoi's economy grew by 7.8%,a rise of 29% year-on-year and higher than the 7.2% increase in the first halfof 2019. Total retail sales of goods and services reached 14.6 billion USD, up16.5% year-on-year.

However, the rental space market was not very good, asoccupancy decreased by 3 percentage points on-quarter, and 4 percentage pointson-year, reaching 89%. The capital city’s western region reported the highestincrease in the additional rental area, reaching 30,600sq.m. The retail podiumssaw the highest increase in leasable area, reaching 12,200sq.m, continuing toaccount for the highest proportion.

Forecasting the market in the coming time, Savills experts said that Vietnam'seconomy has recovered flexibly since the beginning of the year, affecting the performance of the real estate market in the coming time.Thereby, the retail segment will continue to grow in the second half of 2022,with retail podiums accounting for 69% of the total future supply, and shoppingmalls 31%.

Hoang Nguyet Minh, director of Commercial Leasing at SavillsHanoi, said the demand reflects consumers' confidence in disposable income.

The hotel market in Hanoi is seeing encouraging signs, withaverage occupancy up by 16 percentage points year-on-year. The 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) in May helped attract tourists to thecapital city, including 700,000 domestic visitors and 31,000 foreign ones,and 5-star hotels saw significant demand from athletes and tourists alike.

Results in the second half of 2022 are anticipated to beeven better, as the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has begun to ease andtourist confidence is slowly returning.

Matthew Powell, Director of Savills Hanoi, stated that the tourism market isrecovering and many hotels in the capital city are therefore posting highoccupancy rates from the return of business and domestic visitors.

The villa market in Hanoi will welcome more than 2,131 newunits from 13 projects to the end of the year, but these projects are facing a hard factthat buyers are losing interest in the city’s housing market.

Sales prices are currently quite high while supply islimited, leading to a low absorption rate, said Powell, adding that transactionsare mainly in the secondary market, among the investors. Once supply at a morereasonable price returns, liquidity and operational conditions will improve, he added

Demand for apartments is strong in Hanoi, as its populationis expected to hit 9.8 million by 2030 and its gross regional domestic product(GRDP) in the 2026-2030 period forecast to reach 8.5%.

Its apartment market will continue to be active, as 14 newprojects and the next phase of two existing ones will supply some 11,726units to the market in the second half of this year.

According to Do Thu Hang, Senior Director of AdvisoryServices at Savills, financial requirements are changing, while issues oflegislation and border openings have been addressed. When apartment supplybecomes abundant in the future, sales prices will be adjusted to ensure astable and sustainable market, she added./.