Hanoi (VNA) – Experts have suggestedadjusting foreign investment policies, making them match the evolution of theglobal economy, amidst the shrinking FDI inflows in the first half of this year.

The Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry ofPlanning and Investment reported that in the six months, FDI poured into the domesticreal estate market stood at 1.53 billion USD, down 51.5% year-on-year, deprivingit of the second place in terms of investment attraction.

Experts blamed the decrease on supply crunch andland scarcity, which have forced foreign developers to turn their eyes to mergersand acquisitions (M&A) projects in Vietnam.

Besides, both domestic and foreign businesses arehesitant about investment due to legal obstacles, they added.

Nguyen Ngoc Tu, a lecturer at the Hanoi Universityof Business and Technology, told Lao dong (Labour) Newspaper that it is necessaryto create a competitive and open business environment to facilitate the operationof enterprises.

Regulations and standards should be set out toselect environmentally-friendly foreign investors who use high-tech and canresist external shocks, he stressed.

Trang Le, senior director at JLL Vietnam – a realestate services firm – suggested Vietnam improve its infrastructure in serviceof the sector and streamline it administrative procedures which, she said,must be done in reality, not in paper.

Others proposed the Government issue documents detailingthe role and responsibility of the personnel reviewing, appraising andapproving dossiers in order to accelerate the work.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency, amongthe 48 countries and territories investing in Vietnam’s real estate market,Singapore took the lead, followed by the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Japan.

Foreign investments have flown into 45 cities andprovinces, of which Ho Chi Minh City holds a lion's share with 16 billionUSD(24.7%), followed by Hanoi, and the southern provinces of Binh Duong and BaRia-Vung Tau./.