Real estate experts forecast further decline in housing market Professor Dang Hung Vo, a senior Vietnamese real estate expert, has predicted that housing prices in Vietnam will drop as the year comes to an end. Professor Dang Hung Vo Professor Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, cited a report by released by Savills, which said that the supply of apartments and offices in July of this year increased by 3% to 5% against the same period of last year. Higher supply has contributed to a fall of real estate prices. According to Savills, in the second quarter of 2014, around 2,500 apartments were sold in Hanoi, and 3,800 in HCM City, which was a rise from last year. According to experts in the industry, government policies in regards to the real estate market are showing their effectiveness. In particular the disbursement of VND30-trillion (USD1.41 billion) in the form of a financial support package. Professor Vo said that from now to the end of the year is an opportunity for companies to boost their revenues, which should decrease prices in real estate. Many commercial and residential projects have been cutting their prices per square metre and banks have also launched programmes to boost demand with preferential loans. The Vietnamese tourism property sector has benefited from a wave of investment, including projects in Quang Ninh Province’s Halong City and Phu Quoc. According to Vo, this sector holds more promise than other sectors. He added that, in the past Vietnamese tourism sites lacked large hotels, and investors, a fact not ignored by investors, who have poured money into these neglected areas. The combination of building hotels and resorts at tourist destinations is good for Vietnam's tourism industry, according to Vo, who also predicted a burgeoning of high-end establishments in the near future. This helps t bring more tourists to tourism resorts. By Nguyen Tuyen, dtinews.vn