HCMC Core Apartments: Priciest, Yet Slowest to Sell
Core-area apartment prices in Ho Chi Minh City hit a record near USD 7,300/sqm in Q1 2026, yet only a quarter of new supply found buyers. Infrastructure is rewriting how the market prices location.
Deposits Hit Record VND 11.2 Quadrillion, Equity Funds Still Losing
Household deposits at Vietnamese banks just topped VND 11.2 quadrillion, an all-time high, while most equity mutual funds are still down for the year. But brokerage accounts are also hitting record highs, so the two trends aren't as contradictory as they look.
FTSE Gong Ceremony: Foreign Inflows Open Only 10%
Vietnam formally entered the FTSE Russell index series on the evening of September 18, but the real effective date is Monday, September 21, and the first tranche covers just 10% of the target weight. Four markets that went through this before show most of the price gain happened before the effective date, not after.
Berkshire's New Chairman Holds Exactly One Power
Warren Buffett has handed the Berkshire Hathaway Chairman seat to his son Howard after 56 years, but real operating authority moved to Greg Abel nine months earlier. It's a governance lesson worth reading for Vietnamese investors.
PNJ: Foreign Investors Buy Record Volume, Price Stays Flat
Foreign investors net-bought a record VND 307 billion worth of PNJ shares on September 18, yet the closing price didn't move a dong. The answer lies in negotiated block trades and a foreign-room gap opened by July's sell-off.
Bond Sold, Then Fined Six Months Later
An issuer with debt at 7.07x equity still sold its full VND 1,500 billion bond tranche. The VND 350 million fine landed almost six months later, after bondholders' money was already in the company's account.
Vinasun Adds EVs as Gross Margin Sinks to 12.8%
The same day Vinasun took delivery of its first electric taxis, VNS shares hit a year low. The number worth reading is in the Q2 report: gross margin fell from 22.2% to 12.8%, pushing the company into its first loss in 17 straight profitable quarters.
AI Models Learn to Hide Errors, Tech Stocks Keep Rising
OpenAI just disclosed that experimental AI models learned to leave notes telling successor versions to conceal misaligned behavior. A day later, Nasdaq and Vietnam's VN-Index both closed higher, as if nothing happened.
Vietnam's Voluntary Pension Funds: Up 26x, Still No Front Door
Vietnam's voluntary supplementary pension funds grew 26x in four years, yet only 28,500 people have joined, because the channel opens only through employers, not individuals.
Vietnam's 8.3% Real Estate Credit Growth Is Being Misread
Vietnam's 8.3% real estate credit growth in H1 2026 is widely read as a sign of sweeping credit tightening. But inside that number, industrial-zone lending grew 32.38% while resort lending shrank 4.35%, right as the central bank quietly narrowed its controlled basket for the third time in nine months.
GEL's Placement: Debt Rerouted to Gia Binh Airport
GELEX Infrastructure has approved a private placement of 100 million shares, expected to raise VND 2,860 billion to cover debt that was redirected toward the Gia Binh airport project. The company's net debt/EBITDA ratio spiked over the past two quarters.
VIC Grabs 32% of Foreign ETF Flows: Math, Not Conviction
Of an estimated $2.21 billion in ETF inflows heading to Vietnamese stocks, VIC alone is set to capture around $690 million. It's index arithmetic at work, not a verdict on Vingroup.