High-end apartments have enjoyed good sales despite not being targeted by the government’s real estate stimulus package, the Vietnam Investment Review (VIR) reported on April 14.

The paper quoted CBRE Vietnam as saying that high-end apartments worth more than 30 million VND (1,400 USD) per square metre were showing improved liquidity.

A CBRE quarterly report claimed the market had shown more activity than normal despite the traditionally post-lunar new year period.

Meanwhile Ngo Thi Huong Giang, senior manager of Research and Consultancy at Savills Vietnam said that Grade A apartments for sale had shown the best absorption rate for any segment in the first quarter.

“High-end projects are trying to woo customers. Dolphin Plaza, Indochina Plaza Hanoi, Golden West and the Watermark should all be regarded as success stories,” Giang said.

The Ministry of Construction reported that in the first two months of this year, Hanoi saw around 1,300 successful transactions, double that of the same period last year.

In reality, the improvement of high-end apartment sales began at the end of last year.

Good sales have also been seen at Hoa Binh Green City, N04 Trung Hoa Nhan Chinh and Trung Yen Plaza.

At Indochina Plaza Hanoi, 11 units were sold in the first quarter of this year, despite the price tag of 51 million VND (2,400 USD) per square metre. This project attracted customers because of its special buy-to-lease deal with the commitment of a turnover of 400 million VND (18,786 USD) per year per unit, or from 7 to 8 percent of return on investment annually.

Indochina Plaza Hanoi has only 29 unsold units while Thang Long Number One and Mandarin Garden claim only 10 percent of their units are left for sale and these were units over 100 square metre each.

According to CBRE Vietnam’s executive director Richard Leech, good brands and almost finished products were unsurprisingly popular choices.

Due to the limitation of high-rise buildings in the centre of the city, during the last year, only D.’ Le Pont D’or - Hoang Cau high-end apartment project began construction.

Excluding major projects such as Times City and Royal City developed by Vingroup, central Hanoi has around 1,000 units available for sale.

Due to the limited supply, projects owners are maintaining high prices. The Hoang Thanh Tower project has maintained 80 million VND (3,750 USD) to 100 million (4,696 USD) per square metre. Watermark are selling for up to 60 million VND (2,800 USD) per square metre whilst D.’ Le Pont D’or is charging more than 40 million VND (1,878 USD) per square metre.

According to Pham Thanh Hung, deputy chaiman of Cen Group, the price of high-end apartments had been maintained in city centre locations such as Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem, Dong Da and Hai Ba Trung districts thanks to many customers wanting to benefit from good infrastructure facilities despite the limited housing stock.

This requirement meant that despite the available properties in further flung districts such as Ha Dong, Tu Liem and Hoang Mai, their location would act against them due to poorer quality services and local infrastructure in their localities.

In addition, Hanoi’s authorities have also banned new high-rise buildings in the centre of the city.-VNA