The central coast city of Danang has been seen as a favorite destination for tourism property developers as the second home segment enjoyed positive feedback last year. Villas and condominiums worth from several hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars attracted many investors and buyers. However, several tourism property projects are gearing up to share this narrow segment, offering more choices for investors.Marc Townsend, managing director of CB Richard Ellis Vietnam (CBRE), predicted an increase in second home market stock this year and said Danang might see diminished demand due to strong supply and the rise of other locations around the country.

For example, the tourism property project Saint Simeon was launched late last week with luxury villas built along the 600-meter beach in Phuoc Tinh Commune in Long Dien District in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

Nguyen Thu Huong, executive director of Rung Duong Company, the project owner, said at the launching held at La Cantine Restaurant in HCMC on Saturday that the company would invest US$50 million to develop the 7.5-hectare complex.

Huong said the first phase of the project would start building 36 ocean-view villas from 774 to 1,450 square meters each. These villas are designed with a private swimming pool and the complex will include a restaurant, bar and spa.

The project owner says it will start the second phase this quarter to build a five-star hotel with 100 rooms. Both phases are expected to be up and running by Q3 of 2011. The third phase of the project will build 60 apartments from 120 to 250 square meters each.

Huong said the complex would be managed by the Singaporean management firm Careers Hospitality and that infrastructure was under construction and a model villa would be launched in mid-February.

According to CBRE, villas in the Saint Simeon project are from US$830,000 to US$1.85 million each, or from US$1,800 to US$2,200 per square meter, depending on location.

In another tourism property project in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Kim To Service and Trading Company broke ground Saturday to build a villa section at the famous Binh Chau natural hot spring some two kilometers from Ho Coc Beach in Xuyen Moc District.

The developer says it will invest VND470 billion to build 160 villas and service and entertainment facilities within 36 months.

Thanks to being located near the hot spring, the developer is wooing potential buyers with a pipeline system to carry hot spring water to each villa.

Townsend of CBRE projected that the central coast resort town of Nha Trang would enter the second home market with condominium projects to be launched this year. Mui Ne in Phan Thiet City will become a superstar this year with tourism property projects offering multiple opportunities for home ownership, golf and beach vacations.

The Sunshine Hill Villas project in Phu Hai Ward, Phan Thiet City has launched to the market 139 villas from 384 to 523 square meters each with prices starting from US$250,000.

Townsend said foreign buyers were no longer the main consumers of these homes and target buyers would be locals from HCMC and the capital city of Hanoi.

For many years, the central coast city of Nha Trang has been known as a favorite destination for vacations thanks to its natural picturesque landscapes, beautiful beaches and warm weather. Most properties in the resort city are built as hotels to cater to the accommodation demand of international and local travelers. However, the city has witnessed more residential property projects making it more than just a venue just for short holidays but a place for residence and even property investment.According to the property market research company Savills Vietnam, there were 12 apartment projects with more than 1,500 units in Nha Trang as of November. The number of land plot projects remains at six with 1,000 plots and there are four villa/townhouse projects with a total of 250 villas and townhouses. Most of the apartment units are located in the city center while the villa/townhouse and land plot sectors are mainly concentrated in Vinh Nguyen and Vinh Hoa wards.

Savills says the land plot sector is enjoying the highest primary price in Nha Trang’s residential market at an average of US$710 per square meter while the primary price of apartments and villas/townhouses is recorded at US$595 and US$620 per square meter respectively. It may be explained that all land plot projects in the primary market are well located with a great view to the sea.

The seaside project An Vien Town was introduced at the property exhibition and conference called Propex Vietnam 2009 held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in HCMC’s District 7 ten days ago. The property project stretches two kilometers along the coast at the end of Tran Phu Street, some five minutes drive from the city center. It covers a 71-hectare site, in which 18 hectares are in the sea. It is designed with 568 land plots for villas and a wharf to serve private yachts of potential property owners. Infrastructure has been completed to make it ready for transaction and all land plots are licensed with permanent ownership certificates, according to the project owner.

The market research company says there is real demand for ready-built houses in Nha Trang, where residents seem to have a preference to live near the sea. Due to the limited land area close to the sea, many apartment buildings have been developed in the city in the last few years to meet demand. Some individual investors may buy land plots in a good location and build their own villas and then lease them to expatriates. With tourism strength, Nha Trang is a popular destination for foreign visitors. Many foreigners live in Nha Trang and consider this area as their second home.

Savills reports that 31 residential projects may come online in the next few years, and due to the limitation of land in the city center, the potential projects are now moving north, south and west. Large projects are expected to be developed in Vinh Thai and Phuoc Hai wards to the west of the city, which are expected to account for more than 60% of Nha Trang’s future development area.

The gust of cool wind that whispers softly through the pines greet people who come to the remote Mang Den in Kontum Province, making them feel they are in the renowned resort city of Dalat to the south in Lam Dong Province.Many people call Mang Den the second Dalat in the Central Highlands region because this little-known area also has pine-covered hills and mountains, a cool climate, lakes, rivers and waterfalls.

They have a sound reason to make such a comparison when talking about Mang Den, which is more than 50 kilometers northeast of Kontum City. However, Mang Den and Dalat also have many differences.

It is no doubt that Dalat has been famous for decades and has earned much reputation from its attractions and the major annual tourist events, including the Festival of Flowers which happens early next year and expects a large number of visitors, including international visitors.

Dalat is not as quiet as it used to be in the good old days because many new villas and hotels have been up and running in recent years to cater to the demand of many tourists who are coming from near and far for relaxation, golf, mountain climbing and business. Certainly, Dalat is now a thriving city.

On the contrary, Mang Den has just been known to tourists for very few years. Central tourism authorities have revealed its charms and announced Mang Den as a new destination for travelers. Travel companies and individuals have come in to build villas in anticipation of a tourism boom in the area.

Here and there in the area of Kon Plong District, several villas have been put into service and tens of new villas are being constructed by the sides of hills, under the shade of pine trees and along the main road, which lies between Mang Den Pass in the south and Biolac Pass in the north.

Situated between the passes, Mang Den is not easy to reach as approach roads are not as good as those leading to Dalat, but this is a safe place to live and holiday. It goes without saying that Mang Den offers a haven of peace and serenity away from the bustle of the city.

There’s more for visitors to explore in the virgin charms of the area.

Mang Den is still a remote area but worth visiting for a weekend vacation. Here, visitors can open their eyes wide to view and feel the beauty of nature, inhale fresh air, trek in the forest and up the hills and mountains, and chat with the hospitable locals.

Mang Den can be reached by motorcycle and car. If you are not sure how to drive a car or ride a motorcycle there, do not hesitate to ask a taxi motorcycle driver or the people you happen to meet in Kontum City for the way to the haven of peace and serenity.

“Vietnam – a favourite destination” was what Vietnamese travel agents highlighted at a meeting with French partners in Paris on December 14, offering a number of discount tours and new products.

The Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Nguyen Manh Cuong, presented a programme of action themed “Impressive Vietnam” launched by the State to help the non-smoke industry rebound.

The move focuses on administrative reforms such as visa pick-up at border-gates for tourists and visa exemption for overseas Vietnamese, said the senior travel official.

He also cited intensive investments in infrastructural facilities, improvement of service quality and product diversification.

The hospitality industry is struggling against the impact of the global economic meltdown, decreasing number of foreign arrivals by 12.3 percent year-on-year to 3.4 million so far this year.

French tourists, who ranked seventh in the number of foreign arrivals, were reduced by 3.7 percent year-on-year to almost 160,000 in the months to December.

Cuong, however, expressed optimism over the French market, the top-ten market in terms of visitors to Vietnam , citing numerous accords of cooperation as a springboard.

Vietnam and France reached an agreement in tourism in 1996. In 2005, a protocol between the VNAT and the French Department of Tourism was signed and most recently in last September a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on implementing the above-mentioned protocol was inked.

The MOU covers the exchange of information, assistance in personnel training and promotion campaigns for investment-tourism which call for favourable conditions for travel agents between the two countries to meet and discuss opportunities of investment.

Vietnamese Ambassador Le Kinh Tai highlighted major events next year such as the Hue Festival in June, the Thang Long-Hanoi millennium anniversary in October, and the French Week in Vietnam in November as attractions for foreign tourists, especially from France.

(vietnamplus)

That’s all very well for the more cashed up members of society and travelling community but the locals that once swam freely would be doing well to afford to join in the fun. The developers would argue that the hotels and resorts will provide employment with better earnings for the local population, though not everyone wants to or can make that kind of transition.

Fishermen will sail elsewhere as beaches accommodate the guests of the luxury hotels and golf courses. The developers will fence off the beach fronts so privileged guests are undisturbed. Local swimmers will have to drive further up the coast to find a spot to dump their bucket and spade.

For the time being you can flop around the beach at Non Nuoc or Cua Dai but for how much longer? Local authorities eager for tourism dollars continue to lease the beaches out to hotel developers. Hotel groups such as Hyatt, Raffles and InterContinental all have designs on this part of the country.

In Danang, at least, the authorities decided to buck the trend and earmarked a modest stretch in My Khe beach for public swimming. On Son Tra peninsula, the former military zone, nearly got swept away by the wave of tourism. The Danang authorities decided to reserve a small piece of this small paradise for public bathing and announced it would reclaim three hectares of Bai Nam and Bai Con for public use.

The only problem is that they already signed off this beach to a developer, which is still planning to build 198 villas and a hotel. The company is refusing to back off, claiming they have mortgaged the land to a bank to take out a loan for the construction of the resort. The matter is unresolved.

It is odd, however, that the authorities looked to stop a project that was already under construction while just a few hundred metres away, another resort project has sat idly for years with just a few half-completed villas.

Lo Dieu and Tan Thanh are accessible by motorcycle or car from Bong Son Town on National Highways 1A, a beginning point of a coastal road that runs by these two beaches and other obscure but tranquil beaches in the province.

Nestled in a small hamlet between two passes named Lo Dieu, the beach of the same name in Hoai My Commune looks like a giant bow and its yellow sand tempts sea lovers to at least sit or lie leisurely on the beach or else jump into the turquoise waters.

As the beach is rather remote, it is quiet most the year round except for Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, when locals and visitors from Bong Son put on parties on the beach in the late afternoon to enjoy local foods and the joys of the biggest holiday of Vietnam.

We did not have any party during our visit to Lo Dieu Beach over the weekend as we arrived after breakfast and before noon, so it was not an appropriate time to have a party. Furthermore, we had a long way ahead and more beautiful beaches to explore.

We got into our hired nine-seat car after touching down on the sand and taking photos to move on to other unspoiled beaches along the way, a drive that put a few of our group to sleep. But, they were awakened when our car ran over some holes on some sections of the road.

After traveling more than 50 kilometers of rough road we reached Tan Thanh, a beach that can attract both sea lovers and those who are afraid of the scorching ocean side sun. Breezes from the ocean welcome all visitors.

Tan Thanh Beach is bounded by lines of pine trees, naturally creating a wonderful area for visitors to take a siesta or rest while listening to the gentle waves clapping against the shore and the bells hung on the cows and oxen grazing the weeds in the far distance.

For lovers of swimming in the sea, they cannot miss their chance at Tan Thanh Beach to cool down, shrug off the tiredness and be revitalized after hours of sitting in a car.

There are no showers here and some may be scared of not being able to rinse their skin with fresh water after the sea water. Never mind. A good towel and a change of clothes is enough to be comfortable on the way to Quy Nhon City for a proper bath.

Before leaving Tan Thanh, ask the locals to point out the mountain whose peak has a boulder that looks like a woman waiting for her husband. Visitors can see this landmark attraction even from the car on the way to Quy Nhon, the capital city of Binh Dinh Province.

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.

VinaCapital Real Estate Ltd., a subsidiary of the VinaCapital Group, has introduced a new luxury condominium project in the central coast city of Danang.

The Cham, which stretches along Non Nuoc Beach in Ngu Hanh Son District in the central city, consists of 132 luxury condos and is designed to take advantage of the ocean view and maximize the natural light entering the condos, according to the developer.

The project is a residential component of Danang Beach Resort, which includes a 5-star hotel managed by Marriott, two 18-hole golf courses, a marina, a cultural center and almost 400 luxury villas.

Savills Vietnam, which has been appointed as the exclusive marketing and sales agent for the project, said it had received many enquiries from potential buyers to the tourism property project, whose condos vary from 70 to 180 square meters with one to three bedroom units.

The developer says it is expected to finish the project’s foundation by April next year, and the condo prices are ranging from US$1,600 to US$2,300 per square meter.

Property market on the verge of rosiness

Since emerging in the late 90s, the modern condominium sector in HCMC has witnessed the typical ups and downs of the development process. The real estate market has been feverish at times with many homebuyers flocking to certain property projects to make deposits in the hopes of earning a certain profit margin. The market has been through periods of hibernation with investors not seeing profit potential or else getting into deep debt because of their investments. This can be seen in the current half-asleep market which has witnessed a significant decline in transactions over the last year since it was hit by the credit tightening policy from the Government.

However, some experienced property experts, who have watched the market from the beginning, have drawn a lesson from the market’s development saying it repeats two and four year cycles. They have projected that the property market will witness another boom next year, regardless of its current idleness.

“Next year will start a new cycle of property market development, thus it will kick off another boom,” said Nguyen Cao Tri, CEO of Ben Thanh Land, who was a key speaker in a seminar called Trend of Vietnam Market in 2010 which was held by CEO Club in HCMC at the five-star InterContinental Asiana Saigon in downtown HCMC last week.

Tri told the seminar of CEOs and executive managers the local property market had boomed in cycles and gone into hibernation in the same way. For example, the market experienced its first fever in 1993-1994, then went flat in 1998-1999 before kicking off another boom. The property market turned rosy again in the early 2000s and then developed strongly in 2006-2007 when many individual investors lined up in front of developers’ offices in the early morning, jostling each other to deposit for a property.

Tri said land prices would probably be adjusted next year by the Government who would apply a one-price policy to every sector.

He explained that many state run real estate companies which are holding lots in the city have been offered low prices for many years. With the would-be adjustment, developers have no choice but to factor the increased costs into output product prices. As a result the market will feel more pressure.

Commenting on the coming trend, some property experts said project developers could not make market for their apartments and they were holding out in the current tough times and anchoring their development to the promise of next year.

Responding to a question at the seminar about the surplus and low liquidity of the luxury condo segment and the good sales of the mid- and low-cost segment, Tri agreed that according to market feedback, the mid- and low-cost condo segment, thanks to its liquidity, was meeting homebuyers’ budgets. He said that following the 20%-80% theory representing market potential, many developers were inclined to target the major segment. However, when there were so many people eyeing the 80%, there would be less room for participants. Thus, the narrowed 20% segment would be more attractive and should be considered for investment.

Tri echoed other experts saying the real estate market was competitive, risky and required a big amount of money and developers had to predict the market to tailor their products to customer demand.

“In property investment, sometimes when you see the trend of the market it is too late to invest because of many reasons, among them procedures for a construction license is a problem. You should be prepared for that,” he advised the seminar, alerting investors to the risks.

Tri took his own company’s example to prove that Ben Thanh Land was given two land lots to develop two downtown office buildings in the 1990s. Both projects were carried out at the same time, but only the one on Nguyen Hue Boulevard came online with the office building Sunwah as seen today. The other, on Me Linh Square, whose site clearance is completed, has been nothing but fenced in land for nearly 18 years.

The road seeking approval from the municipal authorities for construction was lengthened because of several adjustments in design requested by the management agencies and the economic downturn. Tri said the difficulty for project developers was not capital but policy, for they often have to wait two or three years for a construction license. Once receiving it, business opportunities are often gone. That is a risk property developers must take.

The market research company CB Richard Ellis Vietnam (CBRE) said in a recent statement that more projects would be launched in coming quarters. As the dust from the global economic crisis begins to settle, some developers are testing the waters by basing initial prices for new launches on real development costs instead of their own, sometimes unrealistic expectations and benchmarks with other projects.

CBRE says both buyers and developers will be waiting to see if the market stabilizes at the new lower price points or begins to edge upward, and if so, at what rate. Few expect a return to the frenzied increases seen in 2007 and early 2008.

An international air route connecting south central Khanh Hoa Province with Russia will open later this week marking the opening of the Cam Ranh International Airport on December 12 in the coastal province.

The new international airport will be able to process 600 passengers per hour, according to a working session on December 1 between local authorities and the Nhat Minh International Tourism Company Ltd.

Nhat Minh is the representative of three Russian airlines in Vietnam, including S7 Airlines, Vladivostok Avia Airlines and the Transaero Airlines.

Located some 30 kilometers away from beach town Nha Trang, the international airport was upgraded from a civilian airport under a government’s zoning plan in 2007.

The national aviation sector has invested more than VND200 billion (US$10.8 million) in building a new terminal, air traffic control station, a modern runway lights and other facilities in the airport, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The airport is designed to receive 5.5 million passengers and 100,000 tons of cargo a year by 2020, according to The Saigon Times Daily.

Also on the opening day, a new air route between Khanh Hoa and Russia’s largest port city of Vladivostok will get underway.

“We will open the route from Russia to the Cam Ranh International Airport and are trying to have the maiden flight on the route arrive at the airport on December 12,” Le Van Nghia, chairman of Nhat Minh’s management board, told Tuoi Tre.

The mid-range TU204 aircraft which can carry 210 passengers will be used for one flight every two weeks on the route.

The two sides are also considering opening another air route to connect Khanh Hoa and Russia’s capital city of Moscow.

Vo Lam Phi, chairman of the Khanh Hoa provincial People’s Committee, asked local hotels and guest houses to offer promotion programs and lower service prices to mark the inauguration of Cam Ranh International Airport.

A number of hotels have pledged to offer discounts of 50-70 percent on room rates for nearly 130 international tourists flying from Russia to Khanh Hoa on December 12.

SilkAir, an affiliate of Singaporean flag carrier Singapore Airlines, is also planning to arrive at the airport on its opening day.

The aircraft, carrying about 120 passengers will depart from Singapore at 7:30a.m. and arrive at Cam Ranh at 8:55a.m. on December 12.

About 1,280 kilometers south of Hanoi and 448 kilometers north of Ho Chi Minh City, Khanh Hoa Province has a coast line of more than 385 kilometers, 100 kilometers of which are white sand beaches.

Nha Trang, the heart of the province, is a member of the Club of the Most Beautiful Bays of the World