Villa, townhouse segment warms

Villa, townhouse segment warms

Although the townhouse and villa segment of the Hanoi real estate market is still in doldrums, there are indications of an upswing with a flurry of new home purchases and a range of new projects introduced to the market.

In a recent move, New House Trading Company announced that it was selling villas for a relatively low price range of VND1.4 billion to VND1.6 billion ($66,600 to $76,200). Furthermore, the developer offered a VND200 million ($9,500) discount.

Viglacera Land also just put on sale villas and semi-detached houses at its Lam Vien project, a part of the existing Dang Xa 2 urban township, located in Long Bien district along the Red River. The Lam Vien project has 68 units total of both types with the latter selling for VND4 billion per unit ($190,000).

According to Le Ngoc Quynh, director of Nha Dat 24 Transaction Centre, the absorption of villas and landed houses has increased recently, particularly in projects near completion and in close proximity to the city centre.

Apart from that, many investors are now in the hunt for depressed products that offer speculation opportunity.

According to Cheong Ho Kuan, general director of Gamuda Land Vietnam, his company so far is the only developer that can offer buyers deferred payment plans of up to four years for completed units. Buyers can move in immediately with only a 20 per cent down payment.

Cheong said he saw an uptrend in property transactions, particularly in terms of high-quality products at affordable prices, in both landed and apartment segments in the first half of this year.

“End-buyers know to put their capital into quality products from credible, committed developers that showcase continued growth and offer expected facilities and amenities,” Cheong said, adding that this uptrend would likely continue through the second half of the year.

The first phase of Gamuda Gardens, which has 364 terraced and semi-detached houses, is now complete and houses have been handed over to owners since April. Also since the beginning of the year, the company has achieved a 70 per cent take-up.

According to Phan Xuan Can, chairman of SohoVietnam, the demand for villas and landed houses in projects with complete infrastructure is still high, though supply is limited.

At Sudico Real Estate Transaction Centre, which is selling landed houses in Nam An Khanh project, near Thang Long boulevard, in order to successfully buy a villa in a good location in the project, customers normally have to pay a commission of VND1 billion ($47,600) to the speculators who own the property.

According to Savills Vietnam, thanks to rising sales the prices of villas and townhouses in Hanoi increased in this year’s first half.

The Hanoi market has an average primary price of approximately VND41.7 million ($1,966) per square metre for villas and VND41.5 million ($1,958) per square metre for townhouses.

The highest price was in Tay Ho district near West Lake at approximately VND105 million ($4,950) per square metre. The lowest was in Quoc Oai, a district in the outskirts of the capital city, at VND18 million ($850) per square metre.

Meanwhile, prices increased slightly, between 1 and 6 per cent, in a number of districts including Cau Giay, Tu Liem, Ha Dong, and Hoai Duc.

According to Ngo Thi Huong Giang, senior manager of research and consultancy at Savills, villas and townhouses face competition from private, landed houses and apartments that are selling faster, as they cost less.

Giang said that as of June a joint circular was issued to guide mortgage procedures for future homes, which may increase the market demand in the coming time.

In the first half of the year approximately 1,900 units were sold, up 54 per cent on-quarter thanks to strong sales in Grade B projects. The absorption rate was 14 per cent, increasing 5 percentage points on-quarter.

“Projects that are progressing smoothly and have strong developer credibility generated good sales this quarter. Most buyers are end-users who expect real products,” Giang said.

By the end of 2014, Hanoi’s total villa and townhouse supply is projected to be at around 29,400 units in 105 projects.

vir