The Coastal housing in Bình Thuận Province’s Mũi Né District. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The change in tourism trends caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has made coastal real estate near HCM City attractive to tourism property developers.

COVID-19 is limiting the use of public transport such as planes, buses and trains and increasing the use of personal vehicles.

Developers are therefore looking at coastal tourism markets that are easily accessible by private vehicle within two to four hours from the city, experts said.

Bình Thuận Province's Phan Thiết City seems set for a boom thanks to imminent transport upgrades too, they said.

Situated 2.5 hours from HCM City by road, Phan Thiết’s holiday home products are attractive to affluent people in HCM City and Hà Nội, who show great interest in them since they offer a combination of lifestyle and long-term investment, experts said.

Long Thành International Airport’s first phase is expected to be ready by 2025 with a capacity of 25 million passengers annually. Situated 130 km from Bình Thuận, it is expected to attract many foreign tourists, a major advantage for the province since foreigners tend to spend more than locals.

Phan Thiết resorts are quite cheap now since infrastructure is still being built.

Dr Trần Nguyễn Minh Hải of the HCM City Banking University said demand for property ownership one or two hours from HCM City by personal vehicle would explode after the COVID epidemic is completely controlled.

Dương Thùy Dung, senior director at property consultancy CBRE Vietnam’s, said coastal real estate markets near HCM City such as La Gi and Mũi Né in Bình Thuận Province and Hồ Tràm in Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu Province would lead the southern real estate market in the next five years since they have advantages such as having a private space. — VNS