Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui

Da Nang lists old houses in need of conservation but offers no help

DA NANG — The coastal road from Da Nang to Hoi An is littered with the concrete skeletons of unfinished beachfront developments — physical proof of how the slump in Vietnam’s banking and property sectors is dragging down its economy.

From afar, the gleaming metal and glass edifices of Hanoi’s EVN Tower illustrate Vietnam’s rapid economic development. Up close, the rubble-strewn entrance and missing windows tell another story: one of loose lending and property speculation that now hangs over the country’s banks.

The prices of apartments in Hanoi continued to decline in the third quarter, reflecting the prolonged stagnation in the city's real estate market.

Central Danang city last week warmed up with the opening of the Azura luxury building, a major landmark project located beside Han River.

Despite the slump in real estate prices, old villas in Hanoi are still going for sky high prices.

HANOI - Vietnamese businessman Pham Dinh Nguyen flew to the U.S. for the first time, drove to a tiny, frigid trading outpost and bought his own piece of the American dream: Buford, Wyoming - population 1.

Ho Chi Minh City got a 68-story skyscraper, Vietnam’s tallest, when the downtown Bitexco Financial Tower was inaugurated in 2010. The building, boasting a helipad at the 50th floor, can be seen from almost every part of the city.

With annual lending rates increased to more than 20 per cent last year to fight Asia's highest inflation rate, the once flourishing property market in HCM City seized up and prices tumbled.

After a long hibernation, work on many apartment projects in the golden land plots in downtown HCM City has recently restarted at a time when the real estate market still remains frozen.

While property investors are encountering difficulties finding customers for their projects, many customers still set aside millions of US dollars to buy a luxury villa.

HCM City's sleepy apartment market sees no sign of improvements amid a difficult economy.

The housing markets in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will continue to see price falls in 2012 as cities across Asia-Pacific are expected to have weaker sales volumes, according to global property consultant Knight Frank.

Investors should pay heed to the potential for serviced apartments in Vietnam because demand for this segment was forecast to increase and current supply was limited, Marc Townsend, managing director of CBRE, said at a conference on Thursday.

Condos investors in Vietnam recently announced to sell products at 30 percent discount price, attracting a lot of customers and real estate traders. But is the price real ?