HCM City, Hanoi among most dynamic growing cities

With Hanoi in third place and HCM City eighth, Vietnam was the strongest performer with two cities ranking the highest in ASEAN, said JLL.

In its report, JLL said that the two cities in Vietnam performed very well for socio-economic momentum, with fast-growing populations and economies.

"HCM City is generally viewed as the more business-friendly destination attracting more overseas investment along with a higher corporate presence, whereas Hanoi has lagged commercially but is a city that is swiftly evolving."

On the real estate front, Vietnam has "a small real estate investment market struggling with issues such as low transparency and a limited volume of investment grade stock," JLL added.

However, steps are being taken to improve transparency, such as enhanced access to the land registry, better valuation practices and increasing application of green building certification system, it said.

Two other ASEAN countries also made the top 20 list in JLL’s index. The Philippines was represented by Manila in 12th place and Thailand by Bangkok in 18th place.

According to JLL, the City Momentum Index looks at 20 indicators including recent percentage changes in city GDP, population, air passengers and corporate headquarters presence; projected percentage changes in GDP, population and retail sales; and recent levels of and changes in foreign direct investment, as a proportion of a city’s economy.

Other were recent and projected percentage changes in office net absorption, office rents, retail rents and hotel rooms; international retailer presence; and recent changes in direct commercial real estate investment volumes and real estate transparency.