FDI inflows surge into industrial real estate market

Notably, among the 10 newly-licensed projects in the domestic real estate sector by foreign investors during the first quarter of the year, Japanese electronics giant Panasonic was granted an investment license for a US$25.53 million workshop project at Thang Long 2 Industrial Park located in the northern province of Hung Yen.

In line with the development plan for the project, Panasonic is aiming to build the workshop between January, 2023, and March, 2024, with the project set to come into operation ahead in April, 2024.

This comes following Panasonic initiating plans to shut down a large appliance factory outside of Bangkok in March, whilst seeking to consolidate production to a larger facility in the nation in order to achieve greater efficiency, according to Nikkei newspaper of Japan.

The warehousing industry attracted the majority of foreign capital throughout the reviewed period. Especially, eight out of ten newly-licensed projects are within the industrial real estate segment, with a total investment capital of over US$430 million, equal to 99.7% of the total newly-registered capital.

Singapore became the largest foreign investor within the local real estate market during the three-month period  following Amigos An Phu Holding Pte. Ltd registering to invest in the US$185 million project at New Motion Industrial Co., Ltd in Phu Tan Industrial Park in the southern province of Binh Duong.

The Singaporean investor has also put plans in place to start construction on a warehousing and office building cluster ahead in the second quarter of the year, with the project anticipated to be put into operation on a trial basis during the third quarter of the year.

Furthermore, BW Industrial development JSC of the Netherlands has recently poured a sum of US$80.61 million in investment capital into building a warehouse for rent, whilst providing warehouse and logistics services in Tan Phu Trung Industrial Park in Cu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City.

This increase in FDI inflows in the domestic industrial real estate sector can be attributed to the optimism of foreign investors regarding investment prospects in the Vietnamese industrial production and logistics industry following a challenging year which involved disruption in the global supply chain caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Vietnam started the year with great potential as it rose to be among the top ten emerging markets in terms of performance in the logistics industry. Boasting substantial infrastructure improvements, low operating costs, and large corporate tax exemptions, the country represents an enticing market for plenty of foreign investment, especially in relation to the industrial manufacturing sector.

John Campbell, industrial services manager of Savills, said the nation features the lowest operating costs based upon analysis done on industrial real estate in 54 markets across 21 countries, which has become one of the key factors to help the country increase its attractiveness to multinational companies.