Landlords offer rent relief to cushion blow of COVID-19 on shops, restaurants
Tenants across Vietnam are facing tough market conditions due to the heavy impact of the widely-spreading novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), so some landlords are offering rent relief to help ease the pressure.
Hanoi (VNA) – Tenants across Vietnamare facing tough market conditions due to the heavy impact of thewidely-spreading novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), so some landlords areoffering rent relief to help ease the pressure.
According to global real estate services firmJLL, office rental rates in Ho Chi Minh City hit a decade high at the end of2019, growing 7.4 percent year on year to 29.1 USD per square metre as a resultof surging demand and a shortage of new supply.
However, aside from properties already rented out, new properties are facingdifficulties at present when demand plunged remarkably.
A retail property service provider in the cityreported that the number of visitors to local supermarkets and shopping malls have droppedby 40 - 50 percent after the outbreak was reported.
Restaurants have suffered a similar setback withguests declining 20 – 30 percent during weekdays and up to 50 percent atweekends.
Bui Nguyen Huyen Trang, Head of Market at JLLVietnam said companies may consider letting their employees work from home orother spaces amid the epidemic, so it would affect the dynamic of some sectors,leading to postponements of office relocations or expansions.
Due to the unpredictable nature of the COVID-19outbreak, it is still early to say anything about the short-term andmiddle-term impacts on the office space segment, she said.
But looking at the current situation, landlordscannot just stand by and watch. Pham Thai Binh, Director-General of Hung ThinhRetail – the investor of Moonlight Plaza, Saigon Mia (HCM City), and Vung TauMelody (Ba Ria-Vung Tau) – said his company has offered rent cuts, ranging from20 – 40 percent, to tenants depending on each case.
✃ The move is designed to help them maintain theirbusinesses at this difficult time, Binh said./.
Detailed regulations are needed to promote a healthy condotel market, which has been going off-track for years due to an unclear legal framework, experts have said.
The Vietnam Association of Securities Businesses (VASB) may propose market regulators reduce trading taxes for investors, according to its general secretary Nguyen Thanh Ky.
The Vietnam Real Estate Association has proposed the Government develop measures with a focus on credit and tax support, together with improving the legal framework for new property products so as to aid the property market to overcome this difficult period.
More than 300 real estate brokerage exchanges, or one third of these firms in Vietnam, have closed recently due to low supply and the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.
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This is the second year the magazine has released the ranking, which is based on total revenue and key financial indicators of enterprises from seven countries in the region: Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Cambodia.
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This year’s “Vietnam Goods Week” marks a significant milestone as it is being held simultaneously for the first time in four locations across Asia: Japan, Hong Kong (China), Cambodia, and Malaysia, from June 19 - 22.
Illustrative image. (Source: VNA)
