According to the latest market research conducted by Vietnam’s Batdongsan.com.vn, in March, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City markets showed signs of upswing despite previously experiencing some difficulties. In conjunction to Batdongsan.com.vn’s positive statistics, over 80 real estate companies and agencies expressed a positive outlook on the local property market, having experienced up to twice the amount of successful transactions in late February and early March compared to the average rate last year. In particular, a broker revealed that the number of successful transactions from the Lunar New Year to present was equal to the sum of his transactions in all of 2012.
In Ho Chi Minh city, thanks to effective marketing and media campaigns, new projects which were launched in the month of March, all had more transactions than during late last year. According to Do Hong Khoa of Hung Thinh Real Estate Agency, the same can be said for the apartment segment. For example, only two unsold apartments remain unsold in the Metro Apartment project, which is priced at approximately VND 17 million per sqm; the Valley Phu My Hung project in District 7 was launched on March 16th with the price from VND 30 million per sqm, and as of today nearly 80% of the apartments (163 units) have been sold.
In Hanoi, projects with reasonable prices, good progress and reputable investors continue to attract buyers such as Rainbow Linh Dam, Spring Home, Westa Ha Dong.
This year has also seen a rise in movement of properties in the luxury segment. Typical examples are Sunrise City Project in HCMC and Mandarin or Royal City in Hanoi which have attracted much interest from many customers and already 70% – 75% of the projects have sold.
March also saw the land segment receive significant focus from property investors. According to many brokers and developers, there was an increase in the buyers’ demand for land, compared to the time before Luna New Year, and there have been increasingly more customers requesting information and registering to buy land.
Many investors in this segment have commented that the buyers would be interested in purchasing land, as the prices have become more affordable and the economy shows signs of improvement. “The land’s price is currently much lower than that from previous times. Those with real demand should try to buy now, because the price will increase in case of better macro-economy at the end of the year.” said Ho Ngoc Thach – Marketing Director of HT Real.
Meanwhile, within Binh Duong’s land segment, people are paying much attention to the resettlement region in Binh Duong new city with the price from VND 3-13 million /sqm. According to Mr. Hoang Minh Thoan, Marketing Director of Anh Tuan Agency, project owners were likely to sell inventories from old projects in the 1st and 2nd quarters while those of new projects would be open for sales in 3rd and 4th quarters.
In general, the real estate market is still facing many challenges, but on the up-note, there is optimism within some segments due to the moth of March being so successful; there is hope that the market continues in this direction and not be a mere seasonal spike.
