In the first quarter of this year, the market continued its recoverywith the comeback of high-end apartments. Construction of some 4,879 newunits has begun among 18 projects, an 82 percent against the sameperiod in 2014, said Nguyen Hoai An, senior manager at CBRE Vietnam'sHanoi branch.
"Notably, five out of 18 projects are for thehigh-end segment, more than in any single quarter during 2012-14," shesaid. "The number of new projects for high-end units went up 60 percentquarter-on-quarter and 30 percent year-on-year".
Despite a longTet (Lunar New Year) break, sales remained strong during this quarter,An said. An estimated 3,079 units were purchased during the quarter,which was double the number of sales from Q1, 2014.
"The share oftransactions for high-end apartments increased to 26 percent of totalsales, as compared to 14 percent in the previous quarter. The mid-endsegment remained the highest share of total units sold, while thelow-end segment saw a dip in the share of total sales, as compared tolast quarter," she said.
In terms of pricing, some projects ingood locations near city centres have increased their asking prices. Onaverage, primary prices in high-end and low-end segments increased by 7percent and 5 percent year-on-year, respectively, An said.
"Theseare mostly projects near city centres and displaying good constructionor offered by reputable developers. This price rise is attributed to thescarcity of land in city centres, and hence, projects in or near citycentres become highly sought after."
In the near future, themarket is expected to welcome a supply of some 13,000 new units for theremainder of 2015, An said. The West and Southwest will see the mostnumber of units, accounting for 64 percent of the total supply. However,the East and Southeast is seeing construction of attractive residentialclusters.
Additionally, sales performance is expected to remainpositive for the remainder of the year, with the resurgence of top-tierdevelopers and projects, she said.-VNA