Property firms hopeful
Property firms hopeful
With the real estate market seemingly bottoming in 2013, property companies are hoping that their difficulties will end and trading volumes will rise this year.
Le Chi Hieu, general director of Thu Duc Housing Development Corporation (Thuduc House), said housing prices were more stable in 2013 and the number of transactions increased steadily every quarter.
He said price stability was seen in not only the low-cost housing segment but also medium and higher ones.
A recent market survey by Savills Viet Nam found that the number of transactions in 2013 was 45 per cent up year-on-year at some 5,700 apartments.
Truong An Duong, head of the consultancy's market research department, said the number of apartments sold in 2013 was much higher than in 2012, indicating buyers' confidence has increased.
Hieu said homebuyers now understand better the elements of housing prices.
"The property market will be more stable in 2014 but the market could depend on State policies," he said.
It is now a buyers' market, forcing sellers to make improvements, prepare better before investing, and offer reasonable prices, he added.
Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said the market would remain difficult this year, but things would improve gradually as long as the Government's Resolution No 2 on removing difficulties for businesses and production, supporting the market, and handling bad debts, is carried out effectively.
Developers need to change their way of doing business and have to restructure their investments to choose products in demand from customers.
He called for disbursement of the central bank's VND30-trillion credit package for homebuyers and incomplete property projects.
Duong of Savills Viet Nam doesn't expect a sudden rise or fall in apartment prices in 2014.
More stable economic conditions and lower lending rates would be the factors that help boost transactions in the housing market, he explained.
Nguyen Van Duc, deputy chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association and deputy director of property firm Dat Lanh Co., said the real-estate market was on the brink of collapse this year.
He said 60-70 per cent of property firms would collapse while 20-30 per cent would survive the hard time.
It would be difficult to "save" the property market, he said, adding that measures to rescue it should have been taken as early as 2011.
He dismissed the measures taken in 2013 as "ineffective," saying the market would only revive when the economy does.
vietnamnews
