The real estate market is in the "exploration" stage and is expected to gradually recover in stages by next year. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The real estate market is in the "exploration" stage, the sentiment index is flat and buyers are waiting for positive signals, according to property listing platform Batdongsan.com.

Nguyễn Quốc Anh, its deputy general director, said research indicated that the market might go through reversal, exploration, consolidation, prosperity, and stability in the next two years and buyers would have different priorities when choosing a property in each stage.

From now through the end of this year it would be in the exploration stage, and buyers’ priorities are meeting actual housing needs, clear legal status for properties and good financial support policies, stable rental incomes, and optimising costs when buying.

During this stage apartments would attract the most buyers and have the highest liquidity of any segment, he said.

He expected the consolidation period to begin in Q1 2025, with buyers still prioritising their own housing needs and good cash flows.

If monetary factors are favourable, transactions involving private houses and townhouses would gradually improve, he said.

The period of prosperity would last from the second to fourth quarter of 2025, with buyers and investors paying more attention to investment and price appreciation, and land and villas finally coming to the party, he said.

Then, in 2026, the market will enter a stable development period, and people will look for investment opportunities again.

Batdongsan.com.vn also carried out a study of consumer sentiment for the second half of 2024, and found the index moving sideways.

Buyers are waiting for positive signals from the market, lower bank lending interest rates and new legal policies to improve things, it found.

Bạch Dương, country manager of Batdongsan.com, said the Government’s decision to advance by five months to August 2024 the date the Law on Real Estate Business and Law on Land and Law on Housing would take effect is a positive signal since it would strengthen the legal framework for real estate and help accelerate the market’s recovery.

They would make land valuation more consistent and realistic, tighten requirements for developers to safeguard the rights of buyers, create favourable conditions for overseas Vietnamese to own property, attracting more investment from abroad, and enhance professionalism and transparency in the brokerage industry, he said.

Lê Bảo Long, strategic director of Batdongsan.com, said real estate is always in demand, and young families, especially newly married couples, would be key buyers in the coming time.

He said a survey found 73 per cent of married couples without kids plan to buy a house next year near amenities such as schools and shops.

He also said the trend of buying on the secondary market is growing due to the low primary market supply and high prices. — VNS