Vietnamese people seeking to purchase homes during the Tet sale season, prefer those worth less than one billion dong due to economic woes suffered in 2009.

Hung Tri, a banking officer, disclosed said that he is trying to purchase a house before Tet in February 2010. The requirements Tri has set up for his future home are simple: it must be small (50-60 square meters), worth less than one billion dong and not too far from the city center.

According to Thien Nhan, an An Nam real estate broker, many buyers now have similar requirements.

Nhan said that apartments price at 10-16 million dong per square meter are being hunted down by clients. Real estate experts believe that it is now an age of cheap apartments and they predict that prices may increase slightly by 5-10 percent in the future due to the high demand.

Real estate trading floors in HCM City noted that projects caughting the eye of prospective buyers are Tan Mai in Binh Tan District, E.Home in District 9, Phu Loi and Carina in District 8, Hoang Anh 2 in District 7, The Mansion in Binh Chanh District and Le Thanh in Binh Tan District.

Common characteristic of the projects are the low prices of 12-17 million dong per square meter.

On the ACB Real Estate trading floor, two real estate projects with “soft prices” have been put on sale, An Phu apartments in District 6 and the second phase of Le Thanh project in Binh Tan District. Le Thanh’s apartments are priced at 480 million dong, affordable for many people.

Having realized the high demand for cheap houses, investors have begun to fund low- and medium cost apartment projects.

Construction of 584 Lilama SHB apartment bloc and Saigon Lilama SHB Town have both been kicked off. The former is expected to become operational in August 2011, while the latter is expected to have 340 apartments with areas of 55-82 square meters once operational.

According to Lilama SHB General Director Le Tan Hoa, Saigon Lilama SHB Town is the apartment bloc for medium and above medium income earners and is expected to sell at 12 million dong per square meter.

Anh Tuan Housing and Construction Company stated that it also plans to initiate some low cost house projects in HCM City and other provinces. Of these projects, one in Nha Be District will kick off later this year. These 520 apartments with areas of 70-95 square meters are expected to sell at 12-13 million dong per square meter.

VietNamNet/DTCK

A project to build a new urban area named Kim Van-Kim Lu in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi has just passed by the Hanoi People’s Committee, according to Director of Vinaconex 2 Do Trong Quynh.

The town will be located on the third road belt of Hanoi, 1 km away from the junction between Khuat Duy Tien and Nguyen Trai with a total area of some 27 ha.

The project that costs nearly VND 1,500 billion will spend VND 386.2 billion in restoring sites for construction and erecting synchronic infrastructure, and invest the rest in construction of 6 high-class apartment buildings, 3 office and trade towers and 3 buildings for low-income people.

According to the investors, the company will pay special attention to sub-projects like school systems, a cultural house, sport and entertainment facilities.

The project is expected to kick off in the first quarter of 2010 and will finish in 5 years’ time.

The property market in the central coast city of Danang might be less busy than in HCMC, but the tourism property segment there is burgeoning offering both hi-end and low-end products, said the market researcher Savills Vietnam.

Projects to build villas for sales are emerging quickly in the region, and in the next couple of years, there will be significant villa and resort developments along the Son Tra – Dien Ngoc coastal road from Danang to Hoi An, the company said.

Savills says villas are mainly developed in Ngu Hanh Son and Son Tra districts, and as of the third quarter of this year, there had been about 218 villas for sale from six projects and 630 apartments for sale from three projects.

Highlighted projects whose products have been launched onto the market include The Ocean Villas, Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa, and Blooming Tower among others. This quarter will soon witness Furama project invested by Ariyana Company with 134 villas for sale.

There will be 13 projects along Danang City’s beach with 670 villas expected to enter the market in the next few years, plus 15 apartment projects providing some 7,600 apartments to the market until 2015, the market research company projected.

In another segment, the office market in the city has witnessed considerable changes in the last few years, with many office buildings springing up to meet the increasing demand of both local and international enterprises.

Savills reported that there were 19 office buildings with a total floor area of about 62,500 square meters launched onto the market in the last quarter of this year. Office rents are ranging from US$6 to US$15 per square meter per month, but a few other buildings such as Indochina Riverside Tower and Danang Software Park have rents higher than US$15 per square meter per month.

However, due to the impacts of the global economic downturn, the occupancy rate at office buildings has decreased quite a bit in the last quarter compared to the second quarter of this year, according to the research company.

Savills anticipates that some 143,000 square meters of office space will enter the city’s market in the next five years. Around two-thirds of the office space will be situated in the key districts of Hai Chau, Son Tra and Thanh Khe.

In another sector research, the company shows that the retail market in the city is still in its infancy as shopping in traditional markets and small retail street-front shops remains the preference of the majority of residents.

However, there were some major retail properties supplying some 114,000 square meters to the market in the last quarter of this year. Retail space rents are widely ranging from US$18 to US$50 per square meter per month, according to Savills.

The company forecasts that the city’s retail sector will see 16 retail projects coming on stream over the next four years, mainly trade centers and supermarkets, with total floor space of some 260,000 square meters.

Nova Real Estate Joint Stock Co (Novaland), a subsidiary of Novaland Real Estate Investment Group plans to carry out the construction work on HCM City-based Sunrise City Complex, using the capital of 1.922 trillion dong corporate bonds with deposit term of five years and coupon rate of 12 percent per year that have already been issued successfully.

The high-rise complex of apartments and trade centre will be built on a site of 5.2 hectares on Nguyen Huu Tho St, Tan Hung Ward, Dist 7, HCM City, including 14 towers with total investment capital of over $500 million.

After its completion in 2012, Sunrise City will provide 1,804 modern, high-class apartments to the market and a trade centre of 70,000 square metres.

Lately, Vietcombank has already signed contract with Novaland to purchase over 5,000 square metres in Sunrise City trading centre for setting up the banks South Saigon branch, the second largest branch of Vietcombank in HCM City.

At present, Novaland is conducting the third sales session of about 500 apartments in four towers of V2, V3, V5 and V6 for the investors.

Real estate developer Indochina Land will launch a sales program for its US$150 million commercial and residential complex in Hanoi this Saturday.

The company, the real estate division of financial service firm Indochina Capital, started work on the 1.6 hectare Indochina Plaza Hanoi complex one year ago at 239 Xuan Thuy Street, Cau Giay District.

It is expected to be one of the most significant commercial developments in the country and an icon the capital city, Peter Ryder, chief executive officer of Indochina Capital told The Saigon Times Daily.

The complex includes two residential towers with 390 luxury apartments of 93 to 290 square meters each, an office tower with 18,000 square meters of Grade A office space and four stories offering 30,000 square meters of retail space.

A wide range of amenities including a club house, fitness center, spa, rooftop landscaped gardens with an outdoor pool and Jacuzzi will also be offered to the residents.

According to sales agent, U.K.-based property consultant Savills, the luxury apartments will be sold for prices starting from $2,540 per square meter.

The complex is expected to come online by 2012.

Indochina Land is also the developer of some grand-scale real estate projects in Vietnam. They include the luxury Nam Hai Resort & Spa in Hoi An, the Indochina Riverside Towers in central Danang, the golf and residential complex, Montgomerie Links and the Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa.

U.K.-listed Indochina Capital is one of the leading investment firms in Vietnam. The group has poured over $1 billion into companies in the country over the past 20 years.

Indochina Land plans to officially introduce the Indochina Plaza Hanoi in Cau Giay Dist, Hanoi on November 21.

Indochina Plaza Hanoi was built on 1.6 hectares, including two apartment buildings, one office tower and a four-storey trade centre.

Indochina Land has cooperated with Shanghai-based Benwood Studio, Hong Kong’s Gravity Partnership and PTW Vietnam to make architectural design for this project.

Indochina Plaza Hanoi will provide 30,000 square metres of retail space, 18,000 square metres of Grade A offices and 390 high-end apartment buildings to meet the demands of the customers.

The Minh Viet Investment Joint Stock Company (MVIC) on Nov. 15 announced that it will invest in building Bay View Towers in Ha Long in the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh.

Bay View Towers , an entertainment, trade and deluxe apartment project, will house 25-storey twin towers on 0.75 ha of land on the coast of Ha Long Bay .

They will encompass more than 500 deluxe apartments and 12 penthouse apartments

Singaporean property developer Keppel Land Limited late last week put on another sales program for two apartment buildings in its luxury condominium project following a positive response from the market.

The Estella project, which is jointly developed by Keppel Land Vietnam Properties and its local partner Tien Phuoc Company Limited, is under construction on five hectares in An Phu Ward in HCMC’s District 2, some 6.5 kilometers from the city’s center.

Linson Lim, chief representative of Keppel Land Vietnam Properties, said some 70% of 518 apartments had been snapped up, encouraging the developer to release more apartments to meet demands.

The project targets the upmarket with condo prices ranging from US$2,000 to US$2,200 per square meter.

He said most buyers were locals and the rest were expatriates and overseas Vietnamese who are eligible to purchase homes in the country.

Confidence in Vietnam’s growth has also fuelled demands of locals, expatriates and overseas Vietnamese, Lim said.

The Estella is developed in three phases, providing some 1,500 high-end apartments with supporting commercial space and recreational facilities. The first phase includes eight blocks with 719 apartments from 100 to 260 square meters each and other facilities such as swimming pool and tennis course.

The condo project is under construction at the tenth floor, and is expected to be up and running by 2012.

Last April, the project was given a Green Mark Gold Award by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore for its green design and environmental impact and performance. The green building rating system evaluates several criteria such as energy and water efficiency, good indoor environmental quality and environmental protection, innovation and management.

The developer boasted that thanks to its design, incorporating some of latest green technology, the property project is expected to yield overall annual savings of 23% and 48% in energy and water consumption respectively.(NREN)

Deputy Director of the Tax Policy Department under the Ministry of Finance Pham Dinh Thi has affirmed that the housing tax is a kind of asset tax rather than an anti-speculation tax.

Thi, who is also a member of the compilation committee of the draft housing tax, in an interview with Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam recently, responding to the criticism from experts that the draft law will fail to fight speculation, stressed that fighting speculation is not the main target of the law.

He said that Vietnam needs to take comprehensive measures to prevent real estate speculation, considered the main ‘culprit’ in distorting the market and pushing prices up to abnormally high levels, rather than relying solely on the housing tax law.

According to Thi, Vietnam’s real estate market is still a fledgling market and operating in an unprofessional manner. Moreover, the unsuitable housing taxation stipulated in the currently valid Housing Taxation Ordinance is also a reason for speculation as is the lack of transparency of the real estate market.

The housing tax law, if enacted, will only be able to help restrict speculation, while the law alone will not be able to stop speculation.

He said that one of the most important targets of the housing tax law is to make real estate transactions transparent, thereby making the real estate market healthier.

Many experts worry that with the suggested taxation method and the low tax rates, it will be impossible to stop speculation. What do you think about that?

Thi: We will meet some difficulties in implementing the tax law, especially in defining the values of houses and land to tax. Moreover, the aggressive tax scheme (people who have more houses will be taxed more – reporter) is really a new and unfamiliar thing. Meanwhile, government agencies still do not know how many houses and land plots people have to calculate tax. Additionally, the database used for house and land management is out-dated.
However, after all, every policy only has its own specific functions and roles in the market management.

Regarding the tax rates, we suggested the tax rates after considering the average indexes in society.

As for the tax on houses, we have set the average area of house per capita at 37.5 square metres, or double the targeted accommodation area per capita by 2020. As every family has four members, the suitable taxable threshold should be 150 square metres. As the price of every square metre of house is four million dong per square metre, the taxable value threshold should be 600 million dong.

Some experts say that it would be unfair to force tens of millions of poor people to pay tax just to try to prevent speculation. What would you say about that?

Thi: It is not true. Housing tax is a kind of asset tax. All people who have assets have to pay tax. I have to repeat that fighting speculation is just one aspect of the law; the housing tax is not an anti-speculation tax.

In fact, opinions vary about the aim of preventing speculation of the housing tax law. Some people think that the aim of preventing speculation should be put as the top priority of the tax law. However, I have to remind you that the law will only help prevent speculation.

The Ministry of Construction thinks that it is unnecessary to tax values of houses, only the areas of houses. Which one do you think would be more suitable?

Thi: According to the ministry and some other institutions, it would be better to tax the areas of houses. However, the problem with this taxation method is that it would create unfairness. There is a big difference between the value of a normal house and a villa. If we applied this taxation method, it would be unfair to people in houses, while those in villas, who are rich, will enjoy more benefits. (NREN)