News – Officehcm

Five trends identified for real estate market in 2021

While 2020 is believed to have changed the real estate industry, trends in the sector this year are forecast to sustain or be aligned with demand in the market.

Hanoi – While 2020 is believed to have changed the real estate industry, trends in the sector this year are forecast to sustain or be aligned with demand in the market.

Trang Bui, a senior director at JLL Vietnam, said one of the five main trends in 2021 is “city in the city” and “integrated real estate”, which are popular in large-scale projects.

Vietnam’s property market is becoming more mature, with buyers increasingly interested in a healthy and sustainable living environment rather than simply a place to live.

To attract buyers, developers are, therefore, building residential areas with a range of facilities to help future residents steer clear of problems caused by rapid urbanisation and outdated public infrastructure.

A plus in any large-scale project is the ability to provide different types of housing for many potential groups of buyers, Trang said.

The second trend is the result of a shift to working from home, fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed the face of office property.

Country Director of JLL Vietnam Paul Fisher said the trial of work-from-home policy around the world has shown that technology will continue to be helpful to businesses’ operations.

The lack of direct contact has inadvertently created more working pressure, so some people still want to apply a flexible working approach in the future. However, he noted, offices will still be the centre of business activities.

According to JLL specialists, another trend is the growth of logistics and storage infrastructure, driven by e-commerce.

They noted that Vietnam is now one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in Southeast Asia. Amid the pandemic, more and more consumers have opted to shop online, raising demand for cold storage warehousing for food and other essential goods.

E-commerce needs storage space three times larger than that of traditional logistics activities, which also helps boost demand for industrial real estate around the world.

Businesses’ shift to “green” and sustainable activities will be the fourth trend leading the property market in 2021, JLL noted, adding that buildings with high ESG (environmental, social, and governance) ratings may see their rentals rise by up to 33 percent compared to those without similar “green” certification.

Specialists also expect the property sector to play an important role in creating a less polluted environment, to help society build a sustainable future.

The fifth trend in the market will be investors’ increased attention on the healthcare sector amid the pandemic crisis.

Both domestic and foreign investors have targeted healthcare logistics, and they will need more refrigerated warehouses near their clients to meet the rising demand for temperature-sensitive products like cosmetics, food, medicine, and, especially, COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines in the future, JLL predicted.

Source: VNA

January 25, 2021 / by admin / in News

Satellite cities becoming new frontier for real estate

Limited land and slow approval procedures are causing a fall in real estate supply in the country’s major cities, with developers instead flocking to satellite cities both north and south.

On January 10, more than 1,000 buyers participated in the launch ceremony of Bien Hoa Universe Complex, located in Bien Hoa city of Dong Nai province. And just a few weeks previously, more than 600 villas and detached houses in the first phase of the Waterpoint project from Nam Long Corporation in Long An province were handed over to customers.

Minh Hoang, an investor in Hanoi, told VIR that profit potential in cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is not as high as before, and so other provinces like Dong Nai and Long An are getting in on the real estate action.

“Moving to satellite cities would be a good choice for many private investors. This field of investment is now at the beginning step and the room for growth remains very strong,” Hoang said.

Angus Liew, general director of Gamuda Land in Ho Chi Minh City, expressed that land funds inside the city has been limited, especial for areas large enough to set up townships. “We now have to work with some companies to try and find new land suitable for us to develop a township,” Liew said.

Improvements in the infrastructure system are also helping satellite and neighbouring towns increase their attraction for major property developments.

“We are considering neighbouring and satellite provinces such as Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Long An in the south; and Hung Yen, Haiphong, and Phu Tho in the north. All of those are offering very good opportunities for large-scale real estate projects,” Liew said.

Domestic developers meanwhile have already jumped into the game. Phu Dong Group is preparing to launch a range of projects. First is Phu Gia Residences located in the heart of Nhon Trach district in Dong Nai. This project will offer more than 260 products to the market in the first quarter of this year.

In Long An province, Thang Loi Group has just open for sale its Sol City in Can Giuoc district, located over a space of 130 hectares. Long An is also the location of many other projects such as Long Cang Riverpark, invested in by Phuc Land Real Estate Company, and West Lakes Golf & Villas, funded by Tran Anh Group.

Along with that, large-scale developers such as Novaland, Van Phuc Group, Dat Xanh Group, and Phat Dat Corporation have already been investing in satellite cities for some time.

Promising trends

In 2020, the real estate market in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi experienced a difficult period due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition with increasing land prices and slow approval processes for projects by local authorities.

Based on current conditions, experts said that the real estate market in neighbouring provinces of Ho Chi Minh City will rise, becoming a stronger investment attraction in the coming years.

According to economist Le Ba Chi Nhan, the improvement of infrastructure between Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces in recent years has greatly helped developers explore new options.

“Setting up real estate projects in satellite cities will create competitive products for a market which is in serious lack of supply and push up the growth of the whole area,” Nhan said.

From the perspective of buyers, living in modern urban areas of satellite cities is also becoming a trend – somewhere they can improve their living standards with much better environments and more agreeable population densities.

Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, acknowledged that the trend of investing in real estate projects in satellite cities and provinces is a given. “Once inner-city land funds become unavailable, it is inevitable that real estate developers move to the surrounding areas. As for end-users, when infrastructure develops and roads are convenient, living in neighbouring urban areas is a very good choice,” Vo said.

Potential hotspots

According to an expert from domestic property website batdongsan.com.vn, buyers and investors are paying much interest to the six northern cities and provinces of Quang Ninh, Haiphong, Bac Ninh, Hoa Binh, Hung Yen, and Vinh Phuc. In the south, seven provinces are most hunted in particular – Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Long An, Binh Phuoc, Can Tho, and Kien Giang.

Among those, Binh Duong is the hottest destination as its population shot up 200 per cent over the last decade, the highest percentage in Vietnam. Figures show that around 44 per cent of local residents in Binh Duong lease homes and do not own a private home.

However, not every market is a safe destination as more and more developers enter. Poorly-planned development could bring oversupply and those destinations could become “death projects” if they cannot attract residences to live in.

According to Nguyen Tran Nam, chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, to make those projects become fruitful, developers must know how to attract residents to come and live in them.

“In order to do that, developers must create enough facilities and a good infrastructure system then residents would come. They must not make many promises to buyers which they later fail to meet,” Nam said.

Moreover, developers are advised to get to grips with the special advantages each province can offer.

“Coastal provinces always have more advantages thanks to natural incentives to develop tourism, while delta provinces with good a infrastructure system would be reserved for the second-home segment. Industrial development hubs meanwhile should be reserved for developing mid- and lower-end houses for workers,” Nam said.

He also warned that buyers should think twice about a new development model known as a “farmstay”, which has appeared in satellite provinces in recent years. “Land for farmstays is all agriculture land, which can be used only for farming. If buyers invest in this model, their capital investment would be kept for long time and they would face difficulties when investments cannot be recycled,” Nam added. ( source: vir.com.vn)

January 21, 2021 / by admin / in News

Developers struggle to sell high-end apartments in HCMC

Apartment buildings in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

The number of high-end apartments remaining unsold in HCMC soared by 74 percent year-on-year in the last quarter of 2020 as demand slumped.

Only 5,007 were sold in the quarter, according to real estate consultancy CBRE. Nearly 6,700 units at six projects had entered the market in the period. Overall new apartment supply topped 17,200 units.

The high-end segment, with prices of $2,000-4,000 per square meter, accounted for 76 percent of the country’s total apartment supply.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), the oversupply of high-end apartments is causing concern by making the real estate market unsustainable.

According to its chairman, Le Hoang Chau, some developers registered their projects with the Department of Construction with low prices but later hiked them to high-end levels to increase their profits.

The excessive supply of high-end apartments and a dearth of affordable ones has affected low- and middle-income people.

Besides, over 60 percent of high-end apartments are bought by speculators, which is threatening the sustainable development of the housing market, HoREA said. (source: vnexpress.net)

January 20, 2021 / by admin / in News

Social housing development important to driving market out of difficulties

Social housing could be the solution to driving the real estate market out of this difficult time caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry of Construction.

Buyers of a social housing project in Nha Trang complete procedures to receive their apartments. – VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Dung

Director of the ministry’s Housing and Real Estate Market Management Department Nguyen Trong Ninh said the pandemic had revealed limitations in the real estate market.

Ninh said the market was suffering from the impacts of COVID-19, and around 80 per cent of brokerage companies had closed. The number of new firms operating in the real estate sector had dropped by 11.9 per cent, while the number of firms that had halted operations in the first quarter was up 94.1 per cent on-year.

The ministry said the property market would continue to face difficulties in the remaining months of this year with declines in transactions and supply.

These difficulties have been caused by the economic slowdown, bottlenecks in granting licences for new projects, tightened credit for real estate, and declines in the services and tourism industries that have taken a hit from COVID-19 since the start of the year.

The ministry said that housing prices remained unstable and unaffordable to the majority of people. At the same time, speculation had significantly inflated housing prices.

According to Le Hoang Chau, President of the HCM City Real Estate Association, the market was quiet in the first quarter and had nearly frozen in April. Transactions fell by 70 per cent and revenue by 80 per cent, resulting in exhausted liquidity.

Chau said that both property developers and home buyers had fallen into difficulties due to COVID-19.

Nguyen Tran Nam, president of Viet Nam Real Estate Association, said that focus should be placed on developing social housing projects to create an impetus for the market to overcome this difficult time.

Careful evaluation of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic was needed, especially in Ha Noi and HCM City, to support the market, Nam said.

At the ministry’s meeting late last week to discuss solutions to support the real estate market, experts urged the ministry to ask the Government to postpone land use fee payments, tax reductions for real estate companies and lower lending interest rates.

More capital

The Government has decided to allocate VND1 trillion (US$43.1 million) for the Viet Nam Bank for Social Policies and VND2 trillion for four commercial banks to provide loans for social housing development.

These loan packages are expected to help increase capital for social housing development, after a VND30 trillion loan package with preferential rates ended in 2016.

According to Ninh, the ministry was developing criteria for those eligible to borrow money from the package to speed up disbursement. The ministry would submit proposed amendments to Decree 100/2015/ND-CP about social housing development and management to the Government for promulgation in the fourth quarter of this year.

The ministry’s statistics showed that within the housing development programme for low-income earners in urban areas and workers in industrial zones, 207 projects had been completed with more than 85,000 apartments. Another 220 projects with 179,640 apartments are under construction.

However, this was only equivalent to 34.3 per cent of the national housing development programme to 2020, which set a target of 12.5 million sq.m of new social housing by the end of this year.

Source: VNA

May 9, 2020 / by admin / in News

HCM City property market a magnet for foreign investors

The HCM City property sector has in recent years attracted billions of dollars worth of foreign investment due to its growth potential, real estate consulting companies have said.

A view of the HCM City skyline. The city real estate market is attracting a number of foreign investors. Photo tripsavvy.com

The city was recently named among the top three markets for property investors in the Asia Pacific by the US’ Urban Land Institute and global professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Last year it attracted foreign investment of US$8.3 billion, a 39.45 per cent surge from 2018, according to its People’s Committee.

Manufacturing accounted for 40.14 per cent ($3.33 billion) of it followed by real estate sector with 25 per cent ($2 billion).

Last year Phát Đạt Real Estate Development signed an agreement worth $22.5 million with Japan’s Samty Asia Investments Pte. Ltd to develop property projects with a focus on the city.

Singapore’s Keppel Group broke ground last November for Saigon Sports City, a 64ha smart township project in District 2.

Keppel has received licences for 20 other property projects with a total investment of more than $3 billion, most of them in the city.

Phú Đông Real Estate Group Joint Stock Company said it had tied up with three Japanese companies for a joint venture to develop housing projects in the city.

Korea’s SK Group has bought stakes worth $1 billion in giant developer Vingroup, SonKim Land raised $121 million from a group of investors including EXS Capital, ACA Investments and Credit Suisse AG.

Yamaguchi Masakazu, chief representative of Japan’s Creed Group in Việt Nam, said demand for real estate in Việt Nam remained high, especially in the mid-priced segment.

“The demand is expected to continue rising for the next 30 years.”

Magnet for foreign investment

Analysts said the HCM City property market would remain a magnet for foreign investment this year and in the coming years.

Nguyễn Hoàng, director of DKRA Việt Nam’s R&D division, said, “I think real estate will this year continue to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of foreign capital.”

In recent years the sector has consistently ranked second or third in terms of attracting FDI.

Foreign investment would help meet developers’ demand for funds as the Government tightens credit flowing into the property sector, Hoàng said.

Besides, foreign investors would insist on higher standards, which would require Vietnamese property businesses to raise their standards and improve transparency, he added.

Amid a trend of relocating production facilities from China, with Việt Nam becoming one of the favourite options for many corporations, industrial real estate is among the segments to attract foreign investment.

Industrial real estate rents rose significantly in several provinces last year.

HCM City has been one of the beneficiaries of the shift in manufacturing capacity away from China.

But the city property sector has also been hit hard by the difficulty in getting approval for new projects while there is little or no land left for development in the inner city.

Some Vietnamese businesses are now capable of competing with foreign investors in the high-end and luxury segments, but their number is limited to players like Novaland, Vinhomes, SonKim Land, and Refico.

Local businesses have obvious strengths like having lands available and understanding of legal procedures but suffer from weaknesses such as lack of resources, professionalism and transparency.

Source: VNA

February 25, 2020 / by admin / in News

Condo market faces challenges in 2020: experts

The condo market in HCM City is expected to face challenges this year, according to industry experts.

A condo project in HCM City. Experts forecast that the market faces challenges in 2020.-VNS Photo

In the latest reports about market predictions, Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said that the market would not face a bubble situation, but that it would encounter challenges in the first half of the year.

However, the market is expected to recover in the third quarter, thanks to the support of local authorities in solving difficulties facing real-estate developers, he said.

Chau also predicted that condos priced around VND2 billion each will continue to dominate the housing market in HCM City.

Having the same prediction, Duong Thuy Dung, senior director of CBRE Vietnam, said: “Licensing issues and credit tightening continue to be the main challenges for the condominium market in 2020. Buyers will face difficulty in buying a condo unit, not because they can’t afford them, but rather because they can’t find suitable options. On the other hand, developers are well-positioned to increase profits thanks to the shortage of existing condo projects in the primary market.”

In addition, the remaining issues, including flooding, air pollution and traffic congestion, have had a negative impact on living quality in big cities.

As a result, new township developments in fringe areas that offer full range of facilities and good connectivity will receive high interest from the market.

To meet this demand, developers have planned new township projects in suburban districts and neighbouring provinces. These projects offer fresh living environments for end-users as well as a good options for investors, especially in the context of limited supply in HCM City.

A CBRE report noted that in 2020 licensing issues would continue to pose a hurdle for the market, so about 30,000 units would be added to the market.

Some new projects in fringe districts which are expected to launch are Vinhomes Grand Park in District 9, AIO City in Binh Tan District, West Gate Park in Binh Chanh, PiCity in District 12; and the southern area with subsequent phases of Eco Green Saigon, Sunshine City Saigon and Sunshine Diamond River in District 7.

Primary prices will continue to increase due to a lack of supply. The luxury segment is expected to have a price increase of 10 per cent year-on-year.

Prices for high-end and mid-end segments will increase 5 per cent year-on-year, due to new supply and high price levels in 2019. The affordable segment will have a modest growth of 2 per cent year on year.

The secondary market will be more active due to a lack of supply in the primary market and new pricing levels across the market.

End-users may find limited options in the primary market and may turn to the secondary market which offers both completed projects and those with good construction progress, the company said.

JLL predicts that about 30,000-35,000 units are expected to launch officially in 2020, mainly from the Vinhomes Grand Park project.

“It should be noted that the number is subject to a great deal of uncertainty given the government’s tight control in granting land-use rights and construction licences. Strong demand is set to carry on and will boost the price further across all sectors.

“However, the demand in the high-end segment, especially from investors, is likely to slow down in the long term as their already-high price level and low rental yield make it a less attractive investment,” the company said.

Source: VNA

February 25, 2020 / by admin / in News

Limited supply causing price hikes around Ho Chi Minh City

Suspended ventures due to lack of administrative procedures are instigating a severe shortage of supply and sharp increase of prices of the property market in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in outskirt areas.

The government is being urged to provide more affordable housing and Ho Chi Minh City is looking to push forward stalled accommodation projects (Photo: Le Toan)

Ho Chi Minh City is currently far from a dream destination for many young couples as accommodation continues to increase in cost.

One such couple from the central province of Thanh Hoa, Mai Anh and Nguyen Manh, have had to ditch their plan to buy an apartment to resettle. Instead, they continue to lease a small flat in District 4 at a rental of VND5 million ($215) per month.

“We have saved around VND600 million ($26,000) after four years of living in Ho Chi Minh City and wanted to buy a small flat in the outskirts, which were selling at VND1.2 billion ($52,000),” Manh said. “However due to the shortage of supply, what we were looking for increased to more than VND1.6 billion ($70,000) and much over our budget. Thus we have to temporary halt our plans and save more.”

According to property consultants, the price of land in outskirt areas of Ho Chi Minh City has increased from 20 to 60 per cent compared to those even at the beginning of the year. The increasing prices are freezing the entire market, as real users cannot buy homes and sellers and speculators cannot seek out potential buyers.

In District 12, the price of land has increased to VND 30million ($1,300) from VND10 million ($435) per square metre over the last few years. And in Cu Chi, land price has moved up from VND15 million ($650) to VND50 million ($2,150) in the same timeframe.

Just like District 12, which inherited an improved transport system, District 9 has reported increases of both land and apartment units. Containing many high-rise apartments, a 70sq.m unit is now sold at VND2.5 billion ($108,750), around VND500 million ($21,700) higher than a year ago.

Supply shortage

According to the recent figures from the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), the supply of houses and units in Ho Chi Minh City has seen a shortage because many projects have been suspended due to entering complex administrative procedures before developers can launch them for sale.

The most hunted units in the market now are Grade C, which more buyers can afford. However due to the suspended initiatives, even Grade C units have been falling in number. In 2016, Grade C units occupied 30 per cent of the total market, while last year it was just 17 per cent. Even more seriously, no new Grade C project has been launched in the first half of 2019.

According to Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, after reaching a five-year high of 83 projects in 2017, the number had dwindled to 59 last year. In the first nine months of 2019, only 12 housing projects across all grades received approval in Ho Chi Minh City, a 72 per cent on-year decline.

The declining supply has been partly due to conflicting provisions in the various laws regulating the sector. Such issues have hit construction firms and equipment suppliers hard, while construction workers are facing lack of work.

If the government does not make amendments to resolve conflicting provisions, the low supply could persist for years and banks would have trouble recovering loans to real estate businesses, the HoREA said. “Some real estate businesses are facing bankruptcy,” the association added.

Meanwhile Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said that supply of housing launched to the market from the second half of 2018 to September this year was almost zero, except for very few ventures which had completed necessary procedures previously.

“With increasing demand and limited supply, the price hike is understandable and this situation is not good for the market at all,” Vo warned.

Potential buyers go further

According to Lam Pham, CEO at DKRA Vietnam, Vietnam is in a “golden period” of population, with more than 96 million people, including 36 per cent of people at less than 35 years old.

“Through our figures we see that in the last 10 years, the proportion of young home-owners under 35 years old has been increasing and is currently at 23 per cent,” Lam said.

With an average income of $6,400 per year, a person living in Ho Chi Minh City would take 20 years to save enough to purchase a VND1.5 billion ($65,200) flat.

“House prices have been increasing faster than the average income, meaning the dream of owning a house in this city is becoming tougher. It is even hard for young people on a strong salary of tens of millions of VND per month to buy a small flat,” said Lam.

According to DKRA’s survey, in a diameter of 10km far from city centre, there are very few projects which are sold at less than VND1.8 billion ($78,200) per unit except from those which have poorer transport access. Average prices now range from VND2.6-3 billion ($113,000-$130,400) per unit while high-end units are sold at around VND5 billion ($217,000) per unit.

The Ho Chi Minh City population is increasing on average by one million every five years. However, in the last five years, housing prices have increased by up to 60 per cent.

To overcome the current freeze in the market, developers are actively collaborating with the Ministry of Construction to ensure guidelines on completing procedures and pushing projects forward.

Ho Chi Minh City has ordered a team to review all 130 suspended projects and accept some of those for continuation as soon as possible.

Ngo Quang Phuc, general director of Phu Dong Group, said that in order to break through the current situation, the government should map out special areas to develop affordable housing, especially for young people who are in high need of accommodation. “Limited supply while demand is very high causes many complicated issues which could impact the whole economy, not just the real estate market,” said Phuc.

Meanwhile Pham of DKRA said that in order to control price hikes, it is necessary to impose more tax on second homes, and tax unused land. (source: vir.com.vn)

November 13, 2019 / by admin / in News

Vietnam’s real estate still an attractive prospect

Vietnam’s real estate market continues to attract foreign investors because of its growth potential, especially investors from the Republic of Korea, according to real estate consulting companies.

In a survey by KB Securities, more than half of Korean-won billionaires had expressed a desire to invest in real estate in Vietnam, said Nguyen Hoai An, director of CBRE Vietnam, at a recent press conference releasing the quarterly report on Hanoi’s real estate market in the third quarter (Q3) of this year.

“We have seen a trend of Korean investors buying houses in Vietnam over the past 4-5 years. This trend has been continuing this year both in Hanoi and HCM City,” An said.

“They have been the most exciting foreign home-buyers in Vietnam for many years and the trend shows no sign of stopping.”

Customers of CBRE Vietnam said they were interested in Vietnam’s real estate market because the domestic economy was expected to see rapid growth in the coming years, An said.

Housing prices in Vietnam were attractive compared to their country, she said. For example, the average price of high-end housing was about 2,000 USD per sq.m in Vietnam while the price of a similar product in the RoK was about 15,000-20,000 USD per sq.m.

The attractiveness of Vietnam’s real estate market is explained by a number of factors, such as attractive selling prices, high profit potential and high quality products, according to Nguyen Khanh Duy, Director of HCM City Residential Sales, Savills Vietnam’s branch in HCM City.

Vietnam also amended legal regulations to create favourable conditions for foreigners buying property products in Vietnam, he said.

“Apartment prices in HCM City and Hanoi are generally lower than other cities such as Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, despite much stronger growth,” Duy said. New home prices in the centre of Ho Chi Minh are now between 5,500 USD and 6,500 USD per sq.m.

Relatively low real estate tax in Vietnam also attracts buyers both at home and abroad, according to Duy.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the demand for real estate investment in Vietnam has increased significantly since 2015, when the amended housing law opened the local market to foreign investors.

Foreign investors expect those prices to increase in the coming years, according to An.

“Vietnam’s real estate market will continue developing. However, the prices will not be so high in the short term and Vietnam needs many years to have real estate prices approaching those in developed countries,” she said.

“Growth of real estate prices will depend on economic development and Vietnamese people’s ability to increase their incomes.”

“HCM City has been and will remain an attractive property market for foreign investors,” An said.

“In the first nine months, besides Korean investors, we saw investors from many other countries and territories pay more attention to the property market in Hanoi, including investors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.”

In Hanoi, the western region had attracted foreign investors to buy and rent real estate products, especially from My Dinh to West Lake, she said.

There are many advantages in developing property for foreign investors when they like the domestic real estate market and consider it an attractive market, according to An.

However, to attract foreign investors, real estate companies must pay attention to many factors, especially foreign languages. This means ensuring staff can speak foreign languages and brochures are translated to introduce products easily to foreign customers.

“This is considered a challenge for domestic property companies because not all of them pay attention to this factor even though they know the importance of foreign languages.”

Other issues relate to property products, including the development of property meeting customers’ demands and the representatives of foreign owners managing and trading real estate when they are not in Vietnam.

“If property companies target foreign customers, they need to pay attention to these factors,” An said.

According to CBRE Vietnam’s quarterly report on the Hanoi property market in Q3 released on October 9, there were nearly 6,100 units launched from 18 projects in Hanoi, down by 33 percent quarter on quarter (q-o-q), leading to a total of 26,800 newly launched units during the first nine months of this year, up by 37 percent year on year (y-o-y).

Launched projects in this quarter were mostly located in the west of the city, accounting for 77 percent of total newly launched units.

Noticeably, Hanoi’s residential market showed a clear trend of decentralisation given increasing new projects launched in the farther districts such as Thanh Tri and Hoai Duc districts.

In terms of sales performance, more than 4,800 units were sold during Q3, down by 32 percent q-o-q. Although there was a decrease in the number of sold units in this quarter, the ratio of sold units to newly launched was on par with previous quarters showing stable market conditions.

In terms of pricing, the average primary pricing in Q3 was stable in comparison with the previous quarter, but recorded an increase of 3 percent y-o-y, averaging 1,337 USD per sq.m.

Together with the expansion of the residential market, the affordable segment is moving farther and farther away. For instance, the projects’ locations were typically more than 10km from Hanoi’s central business districts (CBD), according to CBRE Vietnam. In comparison, affordable products launched in 2019 are typically within a 10-13 km radius from Hanoi’s CBD with relatively stable pricing.

In the last quarter of 2019, 7,000 units are expected to be launched, bringing the total new launch in 2019 to around 33,000 units, up by 9 percent y-o-y. New supply will mostly come from township developments such as Vinhomes Ocean Park, Vinhomes Smart City or Park City.

Primary pricing is expected to experience an upwards trend reaching near 1,360 USD per sq.m on average at year end.

Providing active sales and marketing activities and improvements in product offerings, sales momentum is forecast to maintain a positive level achieving around 85-90 percent of total new launch during the year.

Source: VNA

October 23, 2019 / by admin / in News

Coworking spaces expand in downtown Saigon

Coworking spaces are expanding in Saigon’s central districts since the limited traditional office space there is unable to meet the growing demand.

In the third quarter a coworking space company rented two stories of a grade A office building on Le Duan Street, District 1, though construction was still going on, Savills Vietnam said in a recent report.

The 1,400-square meter area the company rented will be leased out starting in the first quarter next year.

Other coworking space companies have rented 2,000-5,000 square meters in some of the city’s newest office buildings.

By the end of September coworking companies had rented 52 percent of all office space in the central area, including in future projects.

While coworking offices are popular among small businesses and startups, large firms with hundreds of employees are also interested in them because of the flexibility they offer, Savills said.

The demand for coworking space keeps increasing since grade A office supply in the downtown area continues to be limited, and businesses struggle to find large space.

HCMC ranks 41st out of the 50 fastest growing coworking markets in the world this year listed by consultancy Co-working Resources.

A new coworking space opens every 47.5 days in the city, it added. (source: vnexpress)

October 23, 2019 / by admin / in News

Saigon apartment prices balloon in last 5 years

Apartment prices in HCMC have risen by more 50 percent across all segments since 2015, real estate firm DKRA said.

Aerial view of Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Shutterstock/Tiep.Nguyen

In 2015 the average price of a high-end apartment was VND40 million ($1,720) per square meter. It had risen to VND61 million ($2,630) by August, and would continue to increase in the coming months, the firm said.

The average price of a mid-range apartment rose from VND21 million ($900) to VND32 million ($1,380) between 2015 and August 2019, a 52.4 percent increase. But the gain has been slow this year.

In the affordable segment, prices have increased from VND16 million ($690) to VND24 million ($1,030), a 50 percent rise. In the last 12 months they have risen by 9 percent.

Prices are expected to keep rising due to a short supply since projects are taking a lot of time to complete legal procedures even as demand remains strong given the high net migration to the city, DKRA said.

According to real estate firm Savills, total supply, which includes unsold units and newly built units in the city in the last quarter of 2018, fell 44 percent year-on-year.

This number fell by a further 34 percent in the first quarter of 2019 to just over 12,000 apartments, which represents a 57 percent drop compared to the first quarter of 2018. One of the problems the city market faces is the legal difficulty in selling apartments, Le Hoang Chau, chairman of HCMC Real Estate Association, said.

Many projects are stuck at various levels from applying for approval from local authorities and getting permission to begin construction to getting permission to begin selling.

According to the city Department of Statistics, Saigon’s base population at the end of 2018 was 8.85 million people.

(source: e.vnexpress)

September 16, 2019 / by admin / in News