High-rise buildings are pictured in this photo. The real estate market in HCMC has seen signs of recovery since August and is expected to gear up for a sharp rebound during the upcoming traditional Lunar New Year holiday and next year - Photo: VNA

According to a January-October report of the association, the local property market suffered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Coupled with its existing difficulties in the last three years, the market has seen a slump in housing supply, especially in the segment of affordable products and those for low-income earners.

However, the market has been improving since August, with housing supplies improving.

Data of the Department of Construction showed that it approved in principle 11 small-scale housing projects between January and September, up by 10 projects year-on-year; endorsed developers for nine projects compared to nil in the year-ago period; and approved 24 other projects, up by 12 ones.

During the period, only 20 projects were eligible for capital mobilization, down 37.5% over the same period last year. They are to offer a total 6,722 apartments, down 65.8% year-on-year.

Of the figure, there were only 163 apartments in the low-end segment, making up 2.5%, while the middle-class segment accounted for 25% with over 1,800 products and the high-class segment offered over 4,800 products, or 72.5%.

The structure indicated a severe supply-demand imbalance and unsustainable development of the market.

At the end of October, the department announced that 10 more projects qualified for capital mobilization, offering the market over 8,300 condos and 830 houses for the last quarter of 2020.

Despite the pandemic, property prices remained high in the primary market. Prices in the secondary market fell a little bit as some investors sought to cut losses, while many property owners reduced rentals.

As predicted by HoREA, the market may continue recovering from now until the Tet holiday and next year, buoyed by the country’s success in bringing the Covid-19 outbreak under control and new polices of the 2020 Investment Law, amended Construction Law and revisions of the housing and property trading laws which will gain effect from January 1, 2021.

Besides, the Government is considering revising some decrees and draft laws to remove the bottlenecks in land management. In HCMC, the local authorities are planning to upgrade several outlying districts in the next 10 years, with Can Gio likely to become an ecological and sea urban area.

Further, the city has got approval to convert 26,000 hectares of farming land into land for industrial, commercial, service and accommodation purposes in the 2016-2020 period.

Moreover, the establishment of Thu Duc City in HCMC is projected to spur the local realty market, with its recovery rate outpacing the national level. SGT

Le Anh 

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