Top 10 activities of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association in 2019

The year 2019 was full of fluctuations and adjustments for the Vietnam’s real estate market. Exciting activities have been witnessed in numerous localities and real estate segments, in parallel with ‘low notes’ that worry the market. Accompanying market movements, the Vietnam National Real Estate Association has had an energetic and effective year of 2019 with many milestones. Below are the top 10 outstanding activities of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association in 2019.

SECOND ANNUAL VIETNAM REAL ESTATE FORUM

Following the success of the first annual Vietnam Real Estate Forum in 2017, the Vietnam National Real Estate Association (VNREA) continued this year to hold the second Forum on November 27. This was the most significant event in the past year, not just for the Vietnam National Real Estate Association but also for the domestic real estate market.

The forum gathered leaders of the Ministry of Construction, representatives of central and local ministries and agencies, leaders and members of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association, experts and managers, leading economists, leaders of real estate businesses, and reporters from press and television agencies.

The goal of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association is to establish the Forum with a desire of creating a big playground – a place for businesses to learn and exchange experiences. Essentially, the real estate market has been encountering countless obstacles in recent times, from policy mechanisms to administrative procedures. The Forum embraced practical contents that revolved around the world of real estate business and painted the big picture of the market in 2019. At the same time, this second Forum also gave forecasts and orientations on new development models, including green, smart or climate change response and so on, for the market to continue developing sustainably.

The opening speech of Deputy Minister Le Quang Hung was one of the highlights of the Forum, providing a panoramic view of the Vietnam real estate realm and State management work of the Ministry of Construction on the local property scene. Following was a speech on the overview of the Vietnam real estate market by Mr. Nguyen Tran Nam, former Deputy Minister of Construction, President of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association. The leader of VNREA analyzed the present context, its opportunities and challenges, as well as the orientations to eliminate barriers that currently confine the Vietnam property sphere.

At the Forum, representatives of State management agencies, leaders of ministries and departments related to land, taxes and administrative procedures, experts and scientists with experiences in the fields of economics, finance, real estate and construction, together with the business community, collectively focused on discussing and clarifying different aspects of the Vietnam real estate market in 2019, including problems and difficulties that needed to be addressed as well as new market trends that demanded to be reckoned.

2019 ANNUAL MEMBERS MEETING CONFERENCE

Being held on July 27, the Vietnam National Real Estate Association 2019 annual Members Meeting Conference comprised of two main components: a meet-and-greet between 2019 VNREA members and a ceremony to honor organizations and individual members, sponsors and journalists who have made great contributions to the activities of the Association in recent years.

The purpose of this year meeting conference was to reevaluate the activities during first mid-term, in the process of implementing the Resolution of the Congress of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association for term IV (2016 – 2021). Additionally, the members meeting was also a big playground for real estate businesses. Each meeting is an occasion to exchange experiences, learn valuable models and seek new investment opportunities. Businesses can, at the same time, share experiences and calculations on finding overseas real asset investment prospects.

In addition to reporting results and accomplishments achieved over recent times, directions for the activities in the upcoming period were also presented at the Conference. Specifically, the Association, side by side with State management unit, will try to improve and find ways to remove obstacles for the stable development of the market.

The 2019 annual Members Meeting Conference brought together representatives of the Ministry of Construction, representatives of Hanoi’s leaders, leaders and members of VNREA as well as more than 60 reporters from press and media agencies. On this occasion, excellent organizations and individuals with contributions to the operation of the Association and the real estate market in 2019 were honored and awarded with certificates of merit. The Association also presented medals in appreciation of reporters and journalists who had supported quick and timely publications of multi-dimensional and objective information on real estate to the large audience.

In the framework of the 2019 annual Members Meeting Conference, the Vietnam National Real Estate Association was honored to receive the certificate of merit from the Prime Minister. Under the authorization of the Prime Minister, on behalf of the Minister of Construction, Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh, Deputy Minister of Construction awarded the certificate to the Vietnam National Real Estate Association.

THE THIRD EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING OF THE VIETNAM NATIONAL REAL ESTATE ASSOCIATION FOR TERM IV

In the framework of the 2019 annual Members Meeting Conference, the third Executive Board Meeting of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association for term IV was held in the capital city of Hanoi with nearly 60 participants. This is a mid-term conference to comprehensively review the activities under the resolutions of the previous meetings, on which basis to evaluate past operations and forecast future activities for the second half of 2019.

The conference was chaired by Mr. Nguyen Tran Nam, President of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association, with the participation of members of the Standing Committee, the Party Committee and all members of the Executive Committee of VNREA.

Speaking at the Conference, President Nguyen Tran Nam summarized that in recent times, the Vietnam National Real Estate Association has had influential and inspiring activities including eagerly reviewing policies and giving recommendations on numerous legal documents concerning the activities of the Vietnam real estate market. The Association offered opinions in a clear and straight-forward manner, which then received great attention and acceptance from the Government. Through practical investigation and real-world penetration, VNREA has enhanced its role in protecting the legitimate rights and interests of its members.

GRANTED SUPPORT MONEY TO BUILD SOLIDARITY HOUSES IN YEN BAI AND QUANG NINH PROVINCES

In fulfilling social responsibility and responding to the movement “The whole country joins hands for the poor – Leave no one behind” initiated and enforced by the Prime Minister, consecutively in October 2019, the Vietnam National Real Estate Association organized two trips to Yen Bai and Quang Ninh provinces, in collaboration with local leaders, and held ceremonies to grant support money for the construction of solidarity houses for all 20 low-income households in the two provinces, with a total amount of VND 1 billion sponsored by the Association’s member enterprises.

Sharing at the ceremony, President of VNREA Mr. Nguyen Tran Nam said that alongside economic development and maintaining good business practices, members of VNREA always pay special attention to social security work, in which focus especially on the fields of education, medical and housing for the poor. Every year, the members have always made great contributions to social security as well as the policy of the Party and the State on taking care of low-income households to help them move up in the world in the spirit of ‘solidarity’.

Nam hoped that this grant will contribute an effective source of funding under the policy “The State and the people work together” in the implementation of building ‘solidarity house’ to aid low-income households, meritorious families and families under preferential treatment policy.

PARTICIPATED IN THE FIABCI 70TH WORLD REAL ESTATE CONGRESS

On May 27, leaders of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association were present in Russia to attend the 70th World Real Estate Congress.

The delegation was led by the President of VNREA Mr. Nguyen Tran Nam and accompanied by Mr. Do Viet Chien, former Director of the Urban Development Agency (Ministry of Construction) and General Secretary of VNREA, together with members of the Standing Committee.

The congress is an annual event held alternately between countries by the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI). The event was an opportunity to look back at the bigger picture of the global real estate realm. Notably, the host country had given an introduction on the overview of the real estate market to the entire congress.

Attending this year conference, VNREA aimed to capture new information regarding the real estate market of the host country, as well as the general picture and latest trends of the global property scene in the near future.

On that basis, VNREA will give forecasts on the trends of future real estate market and apply its experience to find opportunities and attract development capital.

PARTICIPATED IN THE INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE CONFERENCE 2019

The International Real Estate Conference (IREC) 2019 was held in Tokyo (Japan) by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) from September 2 to 4, 2019.

IREC 2019 provided an overview of the international real estate sphere.

Within the framework of the conference, in addition to the acknowledgment of NAR’s valuable remarks for general development and the recognition of the remarkable success of IREC 2018 from international friends, which was hosted by Vietnam, an important section was the establishment of VNREA’s irreplaceable role in the process of professionalization and globalization of the real estate sector in the region in general and Vietnam in particular.

VNREA attended IREC 2019 to capture new information on the real estate market of the host country, the general situation and the newest trends of the real estate sector worldwide. Based on that, VNREA will anticipate the tendency of the domestic realty landscape and utilize evidences to seek development opportunities and draw investments.

THE SERIES OF GREEN CAFÉ TALKSHOWS

The Green building development Program in Vietnam has been implemented from 2017 to 2022 by the Vietnam National Real Estate Association under the auspices of the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Committee of Science, Technology and Environment of the National Assembly.

In the series of events for the campaign, VNREA has assigned Capital House Group, the main sponsor of the program, in collaboration with Vietnam National Real Estate Magazine, the voice of VNREA, to jointly conduct the series of Green Café Talkshows.

The series of talkshows were created with the purpose of raising multi-dimensional perspectives and new solutions to connect and promote the development of Green buildings in Vietnam, heading towards a green and sustainable real estate market.

Succeeding the first episode with the theme “Green city and Green people”, the Green Café Talkshow continued to be held in 2019 with the two topics being "Green school” and “Water and air in green building”.

The series of Green Café Talkshows had attracted great attention from a large number of experts, scientists, State management agencies, and press and media outlets.

WELCOMED REPRESENTATIVES FROM INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

2019 marked the year of frequent and profound activities between VNREA and foreign organizations, businesses and associations. In particular, the most impressive were meetings with the World Bank (WB), the French Development Agency (AFD), the China Real Estate Association, as well as the Japanese and Korean businesses.

Took place in July 2019, the meeting between representatives of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association and the World Bank attempted to tackle asset valuation problem and provided the WB with updates on Vietnam’s real estate situation, enabling the organization to participate in providing assistance in areas within its capacity.

For the meeting with the China Real Estate Association, the two sides exchanged information on their respective operation models, at the same time, shared about the developments of the real estate market in each country. Information on policies, investment environment and experience in building legal corridors in real estate and its related fields are also issues of mutual concern.

As an organization that gathers nearly every local real estate business, the Vietnam National Real Estate Association has strengthened its role in connecting domestic businesses with foreign ones. Through meetings, VNREA has created countless opportunities for networking, interacting and establishing cooperative partnerships between Vietnamese enterprises and Japanese and Korean businesses.

SURVEYED PROJECTS OF MEMBER ENTERPRISES

In 2019, VNREA had organized on-site project surveys and worked with its many members and businesses. In addition to working with the Hai Phong Real Estate Association, VNREA delegation also paid inspection visits to projects including Mon Bay Ha Long by Hai Dang Construction JSC, Sonasea Van Don Harbor City resort and tourism complex by CEO Group, AlaCarte Ha Long mixed-use commercial and apartment building by TASECO Land Investment JSC, etc.

At the working sessions, leaders of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association and leaders of the businesses had simultaneously exchanged opinions and assessments on the real estate market, recognized obstacles that businesses are facing and worked together to eliminate those barriers.

The Association also set out the mission to meet its members, once every month, to identify successes and difficulties, problems and concerns, as well as aspirations of investors in the field real estate business and investment for the local authorities, central ministries and the Government to promptly assist member enterprises.

With these regular activities, the bond between the Association’s operations and its members has been strengthened, the quality of the Association’s activities has been increased and the arising problems and difficulties of the members have been timely received, addressed and supported. The real estate market and system is then developed healthy, effectively and sustainably.

REGULAR RECOMMENDATIONS ON REAL ESTATE MARKET ISSUES

The Association has been routinely contacting and working with member enterprises, listening to the difficulties, shortcomings, concerns and aspirations of investors in the field of real estate business and investment.

In 2019, VNREA continued conducting research and analysis, organizing programs such as seminars, talkshows, forums, etc. to synthesize opinions from experts, researchers, representatives of State management agencies and the business community, and promptly reported to local authorities, central ministries and the Government to settle difficulties of member enterprises.

Specifically, during the past year, VNREA had made recommendations to the Government and relevant agencies on the summary of a number of obstacles and limitations regarding the mechanisms and policies related to the business environment and financial resources of real estate businesses.

Notable problems include difficulties in accessing land fund; difficulties in pre-investment, construction and post-investment management procedures for real estate business projects; difficulties and obstacles limiting the development of the resort and tourism real estate market with specific shortcomings affecting the development of condotel; difficulties in accessing credit and tax relating to real estate businesses with the biggest problem being Clause 3 Article 8 of Degree No. 20/2017/ND-CP stipulating tax administration for businesses with associated transactions.