REAL ESTATE RECEIVING NEW LEASE OF LIFE
Put the commercial hub’s property market under the microscope and it’s not long before you find some encouraging evidence of a comeback in some key areas

By Thuy Linh

By many accounts, Ho Chi Minh City’s real estate market is showing signs of new life after a two-year slump. This is said to be largely thanks to sturdy economic growth and an expanding population.
Analysts say the government’s more liberal policies on transferring land use rights as well as reducing tax on land use and registration, have also helped fuel something of a market revival.
A recent decision to allow Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) to buy houses in the city is also likely to spur growth in the real estate market.
Ho Chi Minh City now has more than seven million residents, of whom two million have migrated from other localities. Average per capita income is $1,300 a year, compared with a national figure of $450.
A large number of real estate companies have sprung up to cash in on the new property market potential.
Saigon South, an urban expansion zone under construction to cater for the city’s growing worker population, is particularly attractive.
There are several large real estate operations and hundreds of smaller privately-owned agencies doing business in the city.
Many are adopting new sales and service methods to drum up business and encourage families to buy homes.
Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), which has been involved in property since 1997, established a real estate "supermarket" boasting computerized information and photographic displays.
The bank also organizes fairs aimed at high-income home-buyers and offers tailored transferal and financial assistance.
According to an ACB representative, it made 1,044 house sales in the first 11 months of last year, putting it streets ahead of its 1999 performance of only 399 transactions.
The most expensive house it sold last year was a villa in District 1, priced at 2,340 taels of gold ($819,000), while the cheapest was in Tan Binh District, which sold for 18 taels.
The Saigon South development was approved by the government three years ago to provide housing for 500,000 people and to act as a link between Ho Chi Minh City and industrial parks in neighboring provinces such as Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Ba Ria – Vung Tau.
The 2,600 hectare development is to eventually include industrial and residential zones, parks, universities and scientific research centers.
Five schools are already operating in the area and a French company is planning to build an international standard hospital there.
Among Saigon South’s residents are 6,500 households, which relocated to make way for the Ho Chi Minh City East-West Highway project and the Nghieu Loc – Thi Nghe Canal project.
Two companies joined up to take care of the initial stages of Saigon South.
Phu My Hung, a joint venture between Taiwan’s Central Trading and Development Corporation and Vietnam’s Tan Thuan Industrial Promotion Corporation, has built the 17.8 kilometers Saigon south Parkway and is developing five zones on 750 hectares.
Another company, Saigon Development Corporation, is developing five Saigon South residential areas. Infrastructure – including roads, water and power supplies, a sewage system and telecommunications – is scheduled for completion by 2003.

Index of Articles