News roundup: Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Savill’s list of fastest-developing cities, and other news

For PropertyGuru’s real estate news roundup, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have been included in the Savills list of fastest-developing cities on the planet. In other updates, Thailand’s Finance Ministry is reviewing the Land and Building Tax Act for a fairer property tax. And Google has completed its latest data centre and cloud region campus expansion in Singapore, bringing the company’s total investment in technical infrastructure in the nation to USD5 billion.

HCM City, Hanoi among Savills list of fastest-developing cities

Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have been included in the Savills list of fastest-developing cities on the planet recently released by the commercial real estate brokerage firm.

The southern metropolis ranks second, while the capital city, sixth, in the Growth Hubs Index, a companion to the Savills Resilient Cities Index.

According to Savills, the Growth Hubs Index builds on the Resilient Cities Index by forecasting the economic aspects of 230 cities through to 2033 to identify the fastest-growing cities.

VietnamPlus reports that HCM City’s strong forecast is driven by the largest increase in the number of high-income households, while Hanoi’s prospects are based on growing personal wealth and an expanding middle class.

Vietnam continues to lay the groundwork to reap the benefits of strong inflows of foreign direct investment in the coming decade through step-changes in infrastructure, regulation and planning.

Thailand’s Finance Ministry is trying to create a fairer property tax

The Finance Ministry is reviewing the Land and Building Tax Act. Public hearings were conducted to gather opinions from the public and stakeholders.

The law has been in effect for five years, marking a significant phase in reforming the country’s property-based tax regime.

Finance permanent secretary Lavaron Sangsnit said in Bangkok Post that the amended version of the land and building tax law will represent a major reform of the country’s property tax laws.

Google invests USD5 billion in data centre expansion in Singapore

Google has completed its latest data centre and cloud region campus expansion in Singapore, bringing the company’s total investment in technical infrastructure in the nation to USD5 billion. This development is poised to power Google’s popular digital services, such as Search, Maps, and Workspace, and is a crucial step in delivering the benefits of AI to users and customers across Singapore.

The expansion, which was revealed at the Sustainable Data Centres with Google event, attended by Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information, Dr Janil Puthucheary, signifies a substantial boost to Singapore’s position as a data centre hub for the region. Singapore is among the 11 countries where Google has built and currently operates data centres that serve users worldwide. Additionally, more than 500 individuals are now employed within Google’s data centres in Singapore.

According to DataCenterNews, this expansion aligns with Google’s ongoing strategic initiatives in collaboration with the Singapore Government, including programmes such as AI Trailblazers, Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First Singapore, and Skills Ignition SG. These initiatives are in support of Singapore’s National AI Strategy 2.0, reinforcing the city-state’s ambition to be a pivotal data centre hub while contributing to compute infrastructure aimed at enabling AI-driven economic growth.

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].