HCM City selective about high-rise apartment projects

The Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoRea) has recommended that the municipal People’s Committee should be more selective about giving licences to high-rise buildings.
HCM City selective about high-rise apartment projects ảnh 1The HCM City Real Estate Association (HoRea) has recommended that the People’s Committee be more selective about giving licences to high-rise buildings.(Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNS/VNA) - The Ho Chi Minh City RealEstate Association (HoRea) has recommended that the municipal People’s Committee should be moreselective about giving licences to high-rise buildings. 

The high-end housing segmentaccounts for a high proportion of 8,502 units (30 percent), while theaffordable housing segment has only 6,981 units (25.7 percent).

The property market needs moreaffordable housing for residents who comprise the majority of the population. Based on the current situation,the high-end housing segment is expected to face many challenges in 2019. High-end apartment projects willhave to compete fiercely with each other to survive.

Meanwhile, some high-endapartment projects in the city centre have enjoyed many exclusive advantages asthe city had previously decided to stop licensing other high-rise apartmentprojects from now to 2020.

HoRea has suggested that cityauthorities not prohibit licensing for high-rise apartment projects butcarefully select quality investors.

Earlier, at a meeting withauthorities, deputy director of the Housing Management and Real EstateMarket Vu Van Phan said he was concerned about prices of existing apartmentsand that they could significantly increase due to the suspension of licences ofnew apartment projects.

According to the HCM City’shousing development plan between 2016 and 2020, new housing projects cannot bedeveloped in the centre area including District 1 and 3.

Incomplete housing projects indistricts 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, Binh Thanh, Go Vap, Phu Nhuan, Tan Binh, and TanPhu should be completed and that new projects should not be carried out unlessthere are plans for construction of quality infrastructure. Social housing projects are givenpriority in these districts.

Authorities in districts 2, 7, 9,12, Binh Tan and Thu Duc should focus on completing unfinished housing projectswhile prioritising construction of new housing projects and condominiums alongmajor public transport axes such as the Metro Line No.1 in districts 2, 9 andThu Duc and areas with quality infrastructure.

Recently, the HCM City People’sCommittee said the city would still offer licences for new housing projects inthe central districts 1 and 3 in a selective manner.

In other districts with denselypopulated densities such as districts 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, Binh Thanh, Go Vap,Phu Nhuan, Tan Binh and Tan Phu, HCM City will limit the number of new housingprojects.

According to the HCM City RealEstate Association, the city now has over 400 of these projects, most of them in good locations and with largeland parcels, and thuswith the potential for big profits.

These projects could not go ahead because their developers didnot have enough funds, said Nguyen Nam Hien, deputy general director ofHung Thinh Corporation.

There are many investors whowould like to buy such prime landsfor property projects but arefaced with some legal challenges, he said, suggesting that banks should act as intermediaries and link up developers ofstalled projects with potential investors.

“If the 400 projects resume,it will have a good effect on the market and banking sector,” he said.
Tran Duc Phuong of the HCMCity Lawyers Association said: “The legal provisions for selling real estate projects shouldbe relaxed.” Circular 194 related to the LandLaw allows a development to be sold after the certificateof land use is obtained, he said.

But the certificate can only beobtained after construction. “This is the point that hinders mergers and acquisations in the property sector.”

The first project expected to get a new lease of life is the North West Urban Area straddling districts12, Cu Chi and Hoc Mon.

It wasapproved in 2000 with several components, including the 650 ha AnPhu Hung project in Tan Hiep and Tan Thoi Nhi communes of HocMon district and dozens of housing, villa and apartmentprojects.

“In 2017 - 2018, the HCMCity People’s Committee implemented a series of measures topromote construction in the project such as readjusting the master plan and completing the 1/5,000-scale map, and it is hoped that early this yearconstruction will begin,” Vo Van Hoan, head of the People’s CommitteeOffice, said.

The Thu Thiem New Urban Area in district 2 is the second one,with the city settinga target to develop it this year.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman ofthe city People’s Committee, said: “The Thu Thiem New Urban Area will seek toattract FDI.”

The Thanh My Loi A UrbanArea in district 2 seems to havebeen reborn, with manyprestigious developers like Novaland and Thu Thiem Real Estate company starting newprojects here since last year.-VNS/VNA

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