People spent 60 percent more renting an office in Ho Chi Minh City than they did in Hanoi in the first half of 2019 as supply fell short of catching up with high demand for office space in Vietnam’s largest city.

The average gross office rent in Ho Chi Minh City from January to June was US$28.5 per square meter, compared to Hanoi’s rate of $17.7 per square meter over the same period, according to a July report by commercial real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Vietnam.

Office rent in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi rose by 2.5 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively, in the second quarter of 2019 from the first quarter, according to the report.

Only three percent of office space in Ho Chi Minh City was vacant as of Q2 2019, while the vacancy rate was eight percent for Hanoi.

Demands for office space in both cities tended to transition away from the downtown areas during the period, the report noted.

Specifically, there was a growing number of renters in Hanoi who preferred Ba Dinh and Dong Da Districts while more in Ho Chi Minh City sought for office spaces in Tan Binh District and the Phu My Hung area of District 7, according to the report.

JLL Vietnam forecast that office rents in the two cities will remain stable or rise slightly in the next quarters.

Around 67,000 new enterprises were registered in Vietnam in the first half of 2019, according to statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

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