According to experts from JLL, a New York-headquartered global commercial real estate services and investment management company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: JLL), Viet Nam’s real estate market is entering a new phase of strategic development, in which growth drivers are increasingly shaped by deep-rooted, long-term structural factors rather than merely cyclical fluctuations.
JLL’s latest report, entitled “Planning for a polycentric city”, observes that while each nation possesses its own distinctive strengths, Viet Nam stands out with an unparalleled competitive advantage. The report describes the country as offering “the region’s most cohesive corridor-led opportunity set”. This indicates that the market’s strength no longer resides in individual cities alone, but increasingly in their ability to connect into a network of interlinked markets, creating a more diverse and sustainable investment ecosystem.
Dr Chua Yang Liang, Head of Research and Consultancy for Southeast Asia at JLL, stated that Southeast Asian markets are becoming increasingly attractive to investors, yet simultaneously demand greater selectivity. To succeed, investors need to move beyond investing broadly in the “Southeast Asia growth story” and instead identify the right economic corridors, sectors, and asset strategies.
“Public policy is becoming an increasingly powerful market signal. At the same time, infrastructure is redefining geography, increasing the importance of secondary nodes and regional networks beyond the traditional concentration in central business districts (CBDs). Moreover, the real estate market itself is becoming increasingly differentiated: high-quality and future-ready assets continue to attract demand, while older assets face growing pressure to be repositioned, refurbished, or converted to new uses,” Dr Chua Yang Liang noted.
Four key investment opportunities in Viet Nam
Through JLL’s analysis and systematisation of strategic opportunities, Viet Nam’s growing market maturity and considerable potential are vividly illustrated across four key areas.
The first lies within the industrial and logistics platform. Benefiting directly from the global trend towards supply chain diversification, Viet Nam continues to rank among the leading destinations. Demand remains high for industrial land, ready-built factories, and modern warehousing in well-connected industrial parks, creating sustainable opportunities for the development of large-scale industrial and logistics platforms.
The second is the economic corridor and mega-region strategy. Opportunities are no longer confined within the administrative boundaries of individual provinces but are expanding across entire economic “mega-regions”. These include the northern industrial triangle of Ha Noi–Bac Ninh–Hai Phong and the southern key economic region centred on Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces. Investment in mixed-use urban developments, satellite industrial parks, and inter-regional logistics networks along these corridors will enable investors to capture their full growth potential.
Third, the rise of secondary provinces presents a significant shift. As costs increase in major markets such as Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Noi, capital and projects are increasingly spreading to secondary provinces. Provinces with strategic locations, abundant land reserves and strong investment in transport and connectivity infrastructure are emerging as new destinations for investors seeking attractive returns and competitive costs.
Fourth, the repositioning of major urban centres plays a critical role. Viet Nam’s major cities are undergoing significant transformation. Da Nang is a notable example, as it seeks to evolve from primarily a tourism destination into a dynamic financial and commercial hub in central Viet Nam. This transformation is creating opportunities for high-quality real estate segments such as Grade A offices, premium retail centres, and mixed-use developments.
Speaking to a Nhan Dan Newspaper reporter, Le Thi Huyen Trang, Country Head of JLL Viet Nam, asserted that the model of interconnected markets is no longer a future concept, but a reality already shaping decisions today.
“We are seeing clients, from occupiers to investors, reassessing their portfolio strategies. The question they are asking is no longer ‘Which city should we enter?’ but rather ‘How should we position ourselves within the northern or southern economic corridor to optimise supply chains and gain access to new labour pools?’ This strategic shift, coupled with the increasingly clear development positioning of secondary provinces, is creating a multi-layered and promising investment landscape for Viet Nam in its new era of development,” Trang noted.
Comparing Viet Nam’s competitive position in the Southeast Asian landscape
Examining the broader regional landscape, JLL’s report demonstrates that Viet Nam’s core strengths lie in two fundamental areas: its industrial and logistics platform and its economic corridor-led development strategy. Viet Nam’s “economic mega-regions” are considered comparable in significance to some of the region’s most prominent examples, such as the Johor–Singapore corridor and Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
Concurrently, the report highlights how individual countries across the region are cultivating their own distinctive competitive advantages. While Malaysia and Indonesia are emerging as new data centre hubs, and Manila and Jakarta offer significant opportunities for repositioning and upgrading ageing assets, Viet Nam’s strengths lie in its industrial scale and systemic connectivity.
Michael Glancy, Managing Director for Southeast Asia at JLL, emphasised that the key question is no longer simply “which market to choose?”, but rather “understanding where that market sits within a broader ecosystem of policy, infrastructure, people, and capital flows”.
“We need to view Southeast Asian real estate in 2026 and beyond through a structural lens, rather than simply through the lens of market cycles. Factors such as rents, supply, and returns remain important, but the most significant changes are being driven by underlying forces such as policy direction, infrastructure connectivity, digital technology, sustainability, and the continuous evolution of supply chains,” Glancy said.
This perspective indicates that competitive advantage in Southeast Asia’s real estate sector increasingly depends on a deep understanding of cross-border infrastructure connectivity, the region’s position within global supply chains, and policy coordination among ASEAN countries.
