Economist Vo Tri Thanh

Vo Tri Thanh, deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, told a conference in HCM City on real estate investment opportunities over the next five years, that the property market was rebounding.

He said buyers were becoming more careful in the market and had better legal knowledge.

A rising number of approved property developments in Hanoi and HCM City were helping the rebound.

Vietnam’s demand for housing is forecast to sharply increase as economic growth rises, with GDP expected to grow by between 6.5 percent and 7.5 percent over the next two decades.

The rental market was also expected to benefit from the property upturn, he said.

Thanh said 2015 would unlikely be good for either gold or stock investors due to foreign exchange rate uncertainties and sluggish progress towards privatization of state-owned enterprises. But the government remained concerned about overheating the property market.

In the first quarter of this year, there were 8,000 transactions in the real estate market, up some 30-40 percent on the previous year.

“Speculation may help boost market liquidity, but there are dangers if it becomes too strong. Investors should always be aware of risk," Thanh said.