CBRE: Affordable housing to play key role in 2017

Cao Ban

A budget housing project developed by Becamex in Binh Duong Province is seen in this fie photo. The market is expected to see higher demand for affordable apartments in 2017 – PHOTO: QUOC HUNG

HCMC – Property service provider CB Richard Ellis Vietnam (CBRE Vietnam) has estimated that over 43,800 apartments will be sold this year, with around 40% of them in the medium segment. The figure last year was 37,419 apartments.

In particular, there will be more than 13,000 high-end apartments and 1,627 luxury ones to be offered this year. The remainder will belong to the budget and medium segments, with around 40% of new apartments to be sold at US$800 per square meter.

Domestic investors and joint ventures are making adjustments in order to adapt their projects to the market trend.

Last year saw gradual adjustments making the market more balanced. As a result, the respective proportions of mid- and high-end apartments sold accounted for 48% and 30%, respectively. The mid-end segment achieved positive results, with more 15,000 units sold, 40% of the total.

Earlier, the HCMC Real Estate Association (HoREA), in its final report of 2016, estimated 30,000 homes had been launched in the city. Of which, low-cost and mid-end housing accounted for 79.7% and was the key segment of the real estate market.

HoREA chairman Le Hoang Chau said the property market this year may witness a major shift to the affordable housing segment, meeting the real need of the majority of average-income earners. In addition, there might be a big adjustment to address the supply-demand mismatch that is currently skewed towards the premium segment.

Duong Thuy Dung, head of CBRE’s Research and Consulting Department, predicted the market would see high consumption in the 2017-2019 period, with the medium-cost segment rising from the 40-50% proportion in previous years to 60% this year, followed by the luxury segment with over 50%.

“Limited available land in the central areas for residential projects is a key factor that helps lure potential customers in the luxury segment. The prices of high-class housing projects in HCMC are still lower than those of other cities in the region. Therefore, the segment is still attractive to local wealthy people, and overseas customers,” she added.