Vietnam GDP              HCMC GDP            Hanoi GDP                VN-Index
          5.73% y-o-y                      7.76% y-o-y                    7.37% y-o-y                      25.08% y-o-y

*Arrows indicate change from the same period of the previous year.

• Vietnam’s GDP grew by 6.2% in Q2 2017. Despite the slowing trend of GDP growth in recent quarters, Vietnam is positive about its outlook in 2017 and still aims to reach an ambitious growth target of 6.7% by the end of this year. Fitch and Moody’s upgraded Vietnam’s outlook rating from stable to positive, helping the country in its search for foreign investors.
• Condominium market: Hanoi and HCMC continued on two divergent paths with new launches from Hanoi being from previously-launched major projects (8,086 units, an increase of 23% y-o-y); while all new launches for HCMC came from projects that have just come online recently (9.580 units, a decrease of 7% y-o-y). Primary asking rents remained stable for both markets, with Hanoi achieving US$ 1,324 psm and HCMC achieving US$ 1,578 psm.
• Retail market: Both Hanoi and HCMC welcomed new supply in decentralized areas, with 33,400 sm NLA and 37,389 sm NLA, respectively. Consequently, asking rents for both cities improved slightly within the non-CBD area, increasing 1.8% q-o-q for Hanoi and 1.7% q-o-q for HCMC. Asking rents within the CBD area remained stable in the review quarter.
• Office market: Both cities welcomed new Grade B supply, with 26,620 sm NLA for HCMC and 24,000 sm NLA for Hanoi. Despite the new supply, Grade B performance remained stable for both cities while Grade A progressed differently, with Hanoi improving 2.2% q-o-q and HCMC decreasing 1.7% q-o-q.