3Q recovery for Ha Noi housing

Apartment complexes in My Dinh Commune, Tu Liem District, Ha Noi. VNS Photo Truong Vi

According to its report on the capital city's property market for the third quarter which it released here yesterday, CBRE Viet Nam Company Ltd., a foreign property service provider, said the country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.62 per cent in the first nine months of 2014.

GDP growth, coupled with accelerating foreign investment, helped to boost manufacturing and exports and helped the country to counter low credit growth, the report added.

It quoted the State Bank of Viet Nam as saying that by the end of August 2014, credit to the real estate market had expanded by 9.85 per cent compared with that at the beginning of this year. This is higher than the 5.82-per cent credit growth for the entire economy, as well as the credit growth for other sectors.

It also cited the ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer survey, which showed that domestic consumer confidence closely followed domestic stock market trends, with both increasing since January.

According to the survey, nearly 60 per cent of respondents expect economic conditions in Viet Nam and their personal family situations to improve next year. A recovery in consumer confidence may give some grounds for optimism in terms of credit growth for the last three months of the year, the report added.

Apart from the recovery in domestic consumer confidence, manufacturing supported the country's overall positive economic performance and remained the most significant sector for foreign direct investments (FDI), accounting for nearly 70 per cent of total FDI. The country's real estate sector ranked second with $1.2 billion, or 11 per cent of total FDI.

"The positive economic factors in the third quarter of this year have promoted recovery of the capital city's property market, including the market of condominiums for sale," said Nguyen Hoai An, senior manager of CBRE Viet Nam's Ha Noi branch.

In the third quarter, the condominium market continued to witness active property launches and re-launches even during the so-called "ghost" month which, in the traditional Eastern mindset, is a time for refraining from business activities, the company said.

A total of 2,202 condominium units from six projects were added to the supply, and most of them were from the low-end segment. This pushed the total new supply of condominiums for the first nine months of this year to 6,829 units, surpassing the 6,745 units launched in the entire 2013.

Meanwhile, medium-end projects were actively re-launched, with massive promotion programmes that included interior design packages, car plans and deferred payment schemes, as most of these projects were already completed and buyers could move in immediately.

Sales momentum still remained strong despite the ghost month tradition. An estimated 2,550 units were sold in the quarter, a slight increase of approximately two per cent compared with that of the last quarter.

Sales for medium-end projects improved by 30 per cent while those for low-end projects declined as buyers moved up the price brackets and favoured completed projects. The total number of units sold for the first nine months reached 6,550, a 66-per cent year-on-year increase.

"Transactions for medium-end projects increased because of the high demand in this segment, and the supply of the medium-end projects has always accounted for a large volume of the market," An said.

In terms of primary pricing, a slight two- to five-per cent year-on-year increase in indicated tag prices were seen in the new launches of some medium- and low-end projects, especially the completed ones, An noted.

"Although promotions of higher value are on offer, the increase in tag prices shows that developers were more confident in the market and in the positioning of their projects," she added.

The prices of apartments for re-sale likewise witnessed a slight one-per cent quarter-on-quarter increase. Re-sale prices improved in most segments, with the strongest seen in medium-end apartments with a 1.8-per cent quarter-on-quarter surge. In the first and second quarters, an increase in re-sale price was stronger in the luxury and high-end segments.