Asset quality is viewed according to the life cycle of exploitation
According to Savills Vietnam, 2026 marks a period when Vietnam's investment environment enters a new focus. Besides the positive economic growth momentum, the development orientation of the foreign-invested economic sector emphasizes the goal of attracting high-quality capital flows, prioritizing technology, innovation, added value and long-term efficiency.
This shift not only reflects how Vietnam chooses capital flows, but also shows that investors themselves are changing the criteria for evaluating investment opportunities. In the real estate sector, when capital costs are still higher than the previous period and investment decisions require more caution, the focus is no longer on new or old assets, but on the ability to create sustainable value throughout the life cycle of exploitation. In other words, the market is shifting from the "buy new" mindset to "buy right".
According to Savills' report Making Offices Fit for the Future: Retrofit or Redevelopment, many owners choose to upgrade or reposition existing assets instead of new development. The question investors are currently concerned about is no longer "how much to rebuild", but "how to make existing assets continue to create value in the next 20-30 years".
This change takes place in the context of global real estate investment activities entering a more selective stage. When cost of capital has not returned to the low level as before, each investment decision requires a higher level of certainty about the ability to generate long-term profits. Instead of seeking short-term price increases, investors prioritize assets that can maintain exploitation efficiency through many market cycles and still have room to continue to improve value.
Strong momentum for real estate
Research data from the Vietnam Real Estate Market Evaluation Research Institute (VARS IRE) shows that the Vietnamese real estate market is undergoing a "healthy purification" process, with a clear shift in both investor behavior and market movement logic.
If in the past, the common psychology was to be afraid of missing opportunities and to spend money according to short-term price increase expectations, now, buyers are more cautious and choose more carefully.
According to VARS, in the medium and long term, the real estate market is forecast to continue to grow, but in a more selective direction.
One of the main drivers of this cycle is the process of completing and synchronizing the legal system on land, housing and real estate business. This is not only a basis for removing difficulties for projects that are facing obstacles but also paves the way for new projects, and plays the role of a "natural filter", gradually eliminating weak investors who lack financial capacity, deploy or do not meet market transparency requirements.
Along with that, macroeconomic factors, especially the developments in the general level of interest rates, continue to play a key role in shaping capital costs, risk appetite and investor yield expectations.
A noteworthy trend in the coming period is the shift from a unipolar urban model to a multi-center. "Sustainable centripetality" is no longer a sensory abandonment of the center, but a directional shift towards satellite cities, megacities, hypercities and newly planned areas with good connectivity infrastructure. This trend helps the market restructure in depth, forming new growth poles, while creating conditions for capital and population to be distributed more reasonably, instead of continuing to be concentrated in the core central area.
