Illustrated image. Photo: Le Toan

DKRA Group's analysis of the real estate market for the first quarter of 2023 indicates that resort real estate liquidity has continued to decline due to general market conditions, with the resort segment's supply reaching its lowest level ever in the first two months.

Specifically, the entire nation recorded only three new resort villas, of which only one has sold. There are six new resort shophouses on the market – the lowest number ever – but no transactions have been recorded. Additionally, there are no new condotel ventures available for purchase. After the first quarter of 2022's positive recovery signals, the market seems to have almost halted.

"After two years of the pandemic, the resort real estate market has recovered, but at a slower rate than before," said a DKRA Group representative.

Faced with pressure from inflation, interest rates, and obstructed credit sources that have yet to be unblocked, many investors are cautious when introducing new products to the market and continually delay the sale date because the pre-ordered quantity has not been met.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, resort real estate has fallen behind other market segments in central coastal communities – where it was previously considered the dominant market segment. Since the situation has been brought under control and Vietnam has reopened to international tourism, the industry has still faced numerous obstacles and its recovery has been sluggish.

In addition to macro factors, the resort real estate market will benefit from the government's recent legal actions. According to Decree No.10/2023/ND-CP that amends the previous decree governing the Land Law, the certification of possession of constructions affixed to land for commercial and service property use has been regulated for those used for tourism accommodation.

According to Nguyen Van Dinh, vice president of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, this decree has huge significance in expelling the legal bottlenecks in the resort real estate segment, particularly for buyers of condotels, officetels, and resort villas. This segment has been dormant for a long time due to complicated legal issues.

This is hoped to encourage investors to return to the resort real estate segment, which is viewed as having significant development potential in Vietnam and could contribute to the transformation of tourism into a leading economic sector. However, it is necessary to have comprehensive instructions that make the handling of any violations simple.

Cao Huu Phi, general director of COPiHOME Real Estate Construction Investment JSC, shares the same opinion, stating that the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment has sufficient legal grounds to issue certificates for tourist apartments based on Clause 4 of Article 1 of Decree No.10/2023/ND-CP.

However, this subject matter only pertains to construction projects used for tourist accommodation purposes in compliance with the regulations on tourism on commercial or service land. Consequently, the scope of this regulation is extremely limited and inconsistent with Clause 2 and Article 6 of the previous Decree No.02/2022-ND-CP.

The feeling is that it is necessary to modify Clause 4 of Article 1 in Decree No.10/2023/ND-CP in order to issue permits for condotels, officetels, and other building constructions used for residential purposes on commercial properties.