HANOI: The market upgrade by FTSE Russell to secondary emerging market status could broaden access to international capital for listed property companies.
This would create additional options for equity fundraising, investment structures and share-related transactions rather than directly channelling new funds into real estate projects.
Vietnamese stocks have been included, in stages, in the FTSE Global Equity Index Series and related indices effective Sept 21 through 2027.
The upgrade is expected to potentially attract up to US$6bil to Vietnam’s stock market. However, the potential capital inflow are related to the equity market and should not be viewed as a forecast of direct investment into the property sector.
For real estate companies, the relationship between the market upgrade and the property market is therefore indirect.
International investors may allocate capital to shares of listed property developers, but such investments do not mean that the money will immediately become funding for project development.
Capital flowing into shares initially affects companies’ access to capital and the liquidity of their investments.
To turn that capital into resources for real estate operations, companies still need the ability to absorb capital, suitable projects, financial structures that meet investor requirements and the capacity to generate cash flow.
The impact of the upgrade, therefore, needs to be considered in the broader development of the capital market.
For property companies, a capital market with wider access could provide additional options for raising equity and conducting share-related transactions.
For institutional investors, a more liquid capital market could also provide another way to gain exposure through companies rather than investing directly in individual properties or projects.
Experts from Savills Vietnam said it was important to distinguish between capital market liquidity and real estate asset liquidity.
A stock can be traded on the market within a relatively short period, while transferring a property remains dependent on its location, quality, legal status, cash flow, market demand and price.
As a result, improved liquidity in the stock market does not automatically make real estate assets easier to buy or sell.
Thomas Jacobs, country manager of the International Finance Corp in Vietnam, said the upgrade would enable Vietnam’s capital market to access a broader and more diverse group of global investors, thereby increasing liquidity and creating conditions for domestic companies to access longer-term capital for growth.
From this perspective, the upgrade could be viewed as an expansion of the capital ecosystem available to the property sector rather than a mechanism for directly transferring stock market capital into real estate projects.
The upgrade comes as the Asia-Pacific real estate market recovers.
According to Savills Global Capital Markets, in the second quarter of 2026, total real estate investment in the region reached about US$46bil, up 18% year-on-year in the second quarter.
Cross-border capital flows remained an important driver, alongside transactions involving the acquisition of partners’ stakes, minority share sales and recapitalisation.
However, the pace of recovery varied across markets. — Viet Nam News/ANN
