Property developers announce plans for year, market still seen challenging

Major property developers in southern Vietnam have announced diverse business plans for this year, including new developments in provinces near Ho Chi Minh City and middle-end housing products.

Phu Dong Real Estate JSC had already completed sales of units at the Phu Dong Sky Garden project in Binh Duong’s Di An town next to HCMC in 2022, said CEO Ngo Quang Phuc. The project features 640 high-end apartments, and completion is set for 2024.

“Our 2023 plans include a new project, Phu Dong Sky One, also in Di An,” said Phuc.

The new project will offer 780 affordable apartments for lower-income people. He added his company is finanlizing legal procedures for the Phu Dong 4 project on an 8-hectare site in the same town.

According to Five Star International Group, in Q1/2023, the Five Star Eco City project in Long An province’s Can Giuoc district, also close to HCMC, will be launched. Covering more than 400 hectares, the company completed the project’s first phase in 2018 on 100 hectares, while the second phase of another 100 hectares is a new development this year with townhouses and villas.

Five Star chairman Tran Van Muoi said his company will launch a 4-storey high-end apartment project in Vung Tau town in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau in Q3/2023.

“This year will be the year for our projects to boom after prolonged legal procedures,” he said.

BCG Group plans to launch a luxury resort in Mui Ne this year, dubbed the "paradise of resorts", in Binh Thuan province, about four hours’ drive from HCMC. BCG has completed legal procedures for the hospitality project.

Van Phuc Group also plans to put high-class townhouses and villas at the Van Phuc City project on the market, which cover 198 hectares in Thu Duc city on HCMC’s outskirts.

Nguyen Huong, CEO of Dai Phuc Land, a Van Phuc Group member company, said that the group will focus on launching the first 400 high-end apartments in 2023.

The group will launch another high-end project in HCMC’s Binh Chanh district. The project, covering more than 50 hectares, will include townhouses and villas. Infrastructure work is already underway.

Phu Long Real Estate said it is completing legal procedures for an affordable apartment and social housing project in Thu Duc, and expects to start sales this year.

Phu Long will also launch at least one high-end apartment project in HCMC this year.

Meanwhile, Tran Anh Real Estate chairman Tran Duc Vinh said he is pursuing a healthcare project in Long An province’s Duc Hoa district near HCMC. The project site is already available, and Vinh has just been to Japan to learn about Japanese experiences and invite Japanese partners to join hands with his firm.

He expects his firm and Japanese investors to co-develop the healthcare project this year.

Thang Loi Group CEO Nguyen Thanh Quyen said his corporation will start work on an affordable housing project also in Duc Hoa, designed with around 40,000 apartments. The legal work has been finished, he added.

Novaland plans to continue to introduce to the market this year big projects in Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Thuan, and Khanh Hoa provinces.

Phat Dat’s focus is a resort in Ho Tram of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, while Hung Thinh Group is preparing to build a 1,000-hectare project in Quy Nhon in the central province of Binh Dinh.

Market not yet out of the woods

Both developers and customers have recently faced difficulties in getting access to capital to build and to buy, Phu Dong CEO Ngo Quang Phuc said, adding that this obstacle will go on.

“It is expected that the market will return in the second half of this year and get busier at the end of the year thanks to the government’s market-supporting solutions,” he said.

Nguyen Hoang, a real estate expert, said that at present it is still hard to make market forecasts for this year. He expects the government's measures will step-by-step help the market get out of the woods, but a booming market is unlikely.

He predicted that the market will take new approaches in advertising, sales and product real estate management, as well as investments.

Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), said 2023 will be the time for corporate restructuring if developers want to survive, because real estate prices have recently been inflated due to large amounts of go-betweens.

“It's time to purify the market. Developers with enough financial capacity and experience will carry on,” he said.