As of January 1, 2010 the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) will start documenting land throughout the country, said Tran Hung Phi, head of the MoNRE’s Land Registration and Inventory Department on December 29.

The department and the builder, the House Viet Nam JSC, have asked the central Government and HCM City People’s Committee to give priority to the project which is expected begin in the third quarter of next year and be completed in 2013.

Retailers complain they are being forced to raise prices because of exchange rates, higher raw materials costs and higher retail rents.

The global economic recession has slowed foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI in Vietnam for 2009 is equal to 30 percent of that in 2008. Still, many huge investment projects have been registered in Vietnam, ones that will provide foreign investors attractive profits.

Credit will be tightened in 2010. The move was set out at a review conference held by the State Bank at Ha Noi. Accordingly, the State Bank will control liquidation and credit outstanding loans at an increase rate of 25% only in 2010, much lower than the rate of 37.73% in the last year.

About 30,000 luxury and mid-range apartments, mostly in HCM City, will be released on the property market late this year and early 2010, according to a recent survey.

Vietnam this year has attracted US$21.48 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), local newswire Vietnamnet quoted the investment ministry’s Foreign Investment Department as saying on Sunday.

Ha Noi’s real estate market stagnated in the last few months of this year, according to industry experts.

There are six issues that VnMedia believes are the most outstanding points of the 2009 property market.

Parkson Flemington, the largest shopping mall in Vietnam covering 26,000sq.m, opened its doors in HCM City’s District 11 on December 25.

This is because the market has been dominated by short-term speculators, not real buyers.