VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese real estate developers now keep curious about what the German real estate tycoon Thomas Kramer looks for in Vietnam and where he would put his money into.

Thomas Kramer is expected to come to Vietnam in July. Some sources said that the German tycoon would stay in Vietnam for six days, during which he would visit HCM City, Hue, Da Nang, the Ha Long Bay and Hanoi. He also plans to meet Vietnamese businessmen to share his investment plan in the Vietnamese real estate market.

The German millionaire now has the huge asset worth $90 million. He has been well known as a successful venture investor who has accurate predictions about the real estate market prospect.

Therefore, the information about the working visit of the tycoon to Vietnam has caught the special attention from the public.

While some Vietnamese real estate developers say they wonder what attracts the German millionaire to a small market like Vietnam, Nguyen Dinh Tung, Director of Hanoiland, a real estate firm, said that the German investor, like many other foreign investors, might have tried to learn about the Vietnamese market to find their opportunities here.

Tung said foreign investors have every reason to come to Vietnam at this moment, when the real estate price has bottomed out. In 2010, foreign investors needed to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to run a project. Meanwhile, they nowadays can spend 1/3 of that sum of money to do the same thing.

Vietnamese real estate developers, who have injected money in too many different projects at the same time, have become thirsty for capital to continue the projects. Therefore, they tend to transfer the projects to get money back and gather their strength on key projects.

“This would be a golden opportunity for foreign investors,” Tung said.

The real estate developer believes that coming to Vietnam now is the result of the tens-of-year market survey of the German millionaire.

“I think that the German investor has collected necessary information about the Vietnamese market which can ensure the success for him when investing in Vietnam,” he said.

A question has been raised that what sector the German investor would pour money to, when the segments of the market all have been frozen. According to Tung, foreign investors tend to aim to high end market segments which make the products serving high income earners.

“As far as I know, domestic real estate developers are meeting financial problems, and they would focus on the medium and low cost market segments which allow them to take back the investment capital. As such, the high end market segment would be left open, which could be the opportunity for foreign investors,” Tung explained.

The Vietnamese real estate developers are looking forward for the visit of the German investor. Dr Pham Sy Liem, Deputy Chair of the Vietnam Construction General Association, said the visit would help warm up the frozen domestic market and stimulate the demand.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Duc, Deputy Director of Dat Lanh Real Estate Firm, keeps pessimistic about the presence of foreign investors in Vietnam.

Duc, who is also Deputy Chair of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said not only the German millionaire, but many other foreign investors would come to Vietnam in the time to come, and that the presence of foreign investors shows the failure of the Vietnamese investors.

“I believe that 60-70 percent of real estate projects would fall into the hands of foreign investors. This is not good news for Vietnam’s economy,” Duc said.

GDVN