Rent for Grade A and B offices rose 7.4 percent year-on-year to $29.1 per square meter a month in Q4, according to a quarterly report by real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

Although three new buildings entered the market in Q4, increasing Grade A and B office space by 11.3 percent year-on-year to 1.3 million square meters, they failed to satisfy high demand in Vietnam’s largest city.

Vacancy rates stood at 6.5 percent at 2019-end, JLL stated.

JLL forecasts total office space in HCMC would rise by 15.4 percent to 1.5 million this year with the completion of nine new buildings, mainly from the Grade B segment.

The majority of Grade A offices across prime locations deferred completion to beyond 2021 due to prolonged the approval process, it said.

Vietnam in 2019 saw rising office rent in both HCMC and Hanoi due to low supply as its rapidly growing economy and increasing foreign investment demand more business space.

In ASEAN, premium office rent in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi during H1 2019 were the second and third highest behind Singapore, according to real estate firm Savills.