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LUXURY LIVING AND TRAVEL
The developers were also quite
confident when they announced aver-
age prices of around VND20 billion for
each villa.
Contrary to expectations, however,
customers were in a conservative mood
by the time sales at Six Senses Saigon
River began. Since coming on to the
market in July 2010 only a few villas
have been sold.
As the real estate market has been
in full downturn over the last few years,
offloading villas at a rapid rate became
an impossible dream. The company was
forced to extend its construction sched-
ule in the hope that a more suitable
time would arrive. But this suitable time
is yet to come, and the poorly perform-
ing Six Senses Saigon River has added
to the delay.
While the bleak state of the real
estate has been generally blamed for
the poor sales at Six Senses Saigon
River, could there be another reason?
The truth is that the real estate market
is indeed frozen and capital has run
out, but many other projects are doing
very well nonetheless and finding favor
among purchasers.
Real estate analysts say the travails
faced by Six Senses Saigon River are
due to the developer setting too high a
price and being unwilling to budge. The
model of wooden villas with leaf-roofs
in the Southern style may be attractive
for visitors to a resort, but owning one
is an entirely different matter.
STRONG SALES
Such tales of woe, however, are not
found throughout the country. Sales of
apartments and villas at Hyatt Regency
Danang Residences, for instance, are
looked upon with envy by many other
second home developers.
Since being launched on the mar-
ket in 2009, more than 90 per cent
of its 27 villas and 183 apartments
have been sold, at prices ranging from
$200,000 to $2 million. Vietnam Sothe-
by’s International Realty, the project’s
sales agent, recently released a report
on the real estate market in the central
region, which it views as remaining
positive.
Hyatt Regency Danang Residences’
latest promotional effort, on August 31
and September 1, attracted more than
50 potential buyers, with three apart-
ments and one villa being sold imme-
diately.
According to Vietnam Sotheby’s,
such pleasing results were also found in
other projects under its management,
with a positive change in the attitudes
of purchasers being clearly evident.
Hyatt Regency Danang Residences has
a lot of things going for it, with its
premium location easily accessed by
transport networks and quick and con-
venient payment methods attracting
overseas Vietnamese investors and oth-
ers from Hong Kong and Singapore.
The developer’s promise of capital
gains of 5 per cent per annum for the
first two years for the homebuyers in
addition to 90 days use of the property
each year free of charge, exemptions
from management fees for two years
and free international-standard interior
packages have also won it many buyers.
In July this year another project in
the Danang, Fusion Suites Danang Beach
was introduced to purchasers in Hanoi.
At prices starting from VND1.3 billion
per unit, with loans of 70 per cent of
the total available from HD Bank and an
interior package included, 15 units were
sold immediately after the introduction;
a figure that would please any developer.
According to Michael Piro, managing di-
rector of Vietnam Sotheby’s International
Realty, the trend among Hanoians has
been to invest in property in Danang,
given its rich potential in tourism and
solid economic development.
Despite the economic recession,
the Flamingo Dai Lai Resort in Vinh
Phuc province, just northwest of Hanoi,
was recently completed on time and
has begun to hand over villas in the
Bach Thanh sub-project to purchasers.
“With completed infrastructure,
luxurious architecture and a mix of pri-
vate space and public space, the vil-
las here are unique,” said Nguyen Thi
Huong, one of the first buyers. “We are
very pleased with our purchase. Perfect
planning and the on-time completion
has given us confidence in the future
of Flamingo and we are proud to be
new owners.”