The Urban Land Institute (ULI), an interdisciplinary research and education institute, has announced it is expanding its Asia Pacific footprint to include Viet Nam.

ULI has formed a ULI Vietnam committee to align with its ambitions to grow its presence and membership in Viet Nam and establish a locally-led council of industry experts.

The ULI Vietnam committee currently consists of a growing network of members, including industry-leading experts, landlords, owners, developers and urban planners in Viet Nam.

The newly formed committee has appointed Vo Sy Nhan, the co-founder of Gaw NP Capital and CEO of Empire City, to help formulate the committee’s strategic plan and grow its membership and footprint in Viet Nam.

He brings extensive private and public sectors and industry leadership experience in real estate development and investment to his new role.

Before his venture into the private sector, he was a public servant at the Department of Planning and Investment of HCM City. He is also an active member of the Young President Organisation and a Harvard Business School alumni.

David Faulkner, President of ULI Asia Pacific, said: “We are excited to finally establish our footprint in Viet Nam, an exciting real estate market and one of our core focus in Asia.

"ULI Vietnam will bring together various public and private stakeholders to find solutions and build consensus around land use and development challenges. We aim to provide the avenues for active sectoral dialogues in Viet Nam and facilitate the exchange of knowledge between industry experts and the wider community.”

ULI also launched the Viet Nam edition of the Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2022 report, authored in partnership with PwC.

This year, the report ranked Viet Nam as the fifth among other Asia Pacific markets in city development prospects, citing its popularity in the wake of continued strong foreign investment in local industrial parks.

Despite strong potential in the commercial real estate segment, Viet Nam has reportedly been adversely affected by COVID-19 lockdowns as large manufacturers with factories in the country have either found or are looking for alternate bases, such as in China, according to the report.

Vo Sy Nhan said: “While Viet Nam is seeing significant progress in terms of sustainability, industrial and investments, rising construction costs, nascent transaction market and solutions for affordable housing remain some of the major challenges locally.

"Introducing ULI to Vietnam unfolds the organisation’s strong commitment to shaping the country's built environment's future.” — VNS