$30 million townhouses, villas go on sale in HCMC

Townhouses and villas costing up to VND750 billion ($29.5 million) each were put for sale in Ho Chi Minh City in the second quarter of 2024, according to property consultants DKRA Group.

In localities neighboring HCMC, the highest unit prices were much lower at VND228.5 billion ($8.98 million) in Dong Nai, VND45.5 billion ($1.79 million) in Binh Duong, VND39.4 billion ($1.55 million) in Long An, VND21.8 billion ($857,256) in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and VND8.5 billion ($334,251) in Tay Ninh, says a DKRA report on the real estate market in HCMC and surrounding areas in Q2.

The southern real estate market has seen “many positive movements” in the land plot, apartment and townhouse/villa segments, the report says.

For land plots, primary supply in Q2 increased by about 5% over Q1, focused mainly in localities neighboring HCMC like Binh Duong, Long An and Dong Nai.

Overall, market demand improved significantly from the first quarter, but was still low compared to the pre-2019 period. Transactions were mainly seen in products with complete infrastructure and legal status with an average price of less than VND30 million ($1,180) per square meter.

In the apartment segment, the market recorded 126 primary projects offered for sale (only four new projects) in Q2 with 14,538 units, up 8% year-on-year. Of these, 3,349 unit were sold, up 82% year-on-year.

New Q2 apartment supply in HCMC and Binh Duong accounted for 56% and 38.8% of the total, respectively, while Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Long An and Dong Nai reported very low figures and Tay Ninh saw no new apartments for sale.

HCMC had the highest and lowest primary prices of VND493 million ($19,387) and VND30 million per square meter, respectively. Corresponding figures for neighboring localities were VND59 million ($2,320) and VND31 million in Binh Duong; VND51 million ($2,000) and VND35 million in Ba Ria-Vung Tau; VND41 million ($1,612) and VND31 million in Dong Nai; and VND24 million ($943) and VND21 million in Long An.

Vo Hong Thang, investment director at DKRA Vietnam, said the new supply mostly came from Grade A and luxury apartment projects in the eastern area of HCMC; while transactions were mainly seen in mid-range projects with prices ranging from VND40-55 million ($1,966) per square meter in HCMC or VND30-35 million in Binh Duong. Such projects typically had full legal status, showed rapid construction progress and were conveniently connected to the city center, he noted.

"The primary selling price of apartments in Q2 did not change much compared to the previous quarter although developers offered several incentives including discounts for quick payment and grace periods for repayment of principal and interest. Liquidity in the secondary market improved but was still at a low level," Thang said.

Notably, the townhouse and villa segment saw some positive signs. From the second quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024, this segment had seen gloomy sales, but the situation improved in the second quarter.

The regional market as a whole had 86 projects including eight new ones with 4,878 units, an increase of 12% compared to the first quarter. Of these 587 units were sold, 4.5 times that of the previous quarter. New supply mainly came from HCMC, Dong Nai and Binh Duong.

Thang reiterated that demand for townhouses and villas had improved significantly, with sales increasing sharply compared to the previous quarter. He also reaffirmed that most transactions were seen in projects by reputed developers with complete infrastructure and legal status. The secondary market maintained a sideways trend compared to the first quarter, he added.