Japanese firms partner with Nam Long

The Flora Anh Dao development is Nam Long’s first move into the ‘affordable premium’ segment

The Flora Anh Dao is Nam Long’s first Flora branded-product targeted at middle and upper class earners. The total investment for the project is estimated at VND500 billion ($23.8 million).

According to Toshihiro Matsuo, executive officer of Nishi-Nippon’s housing division, the Japanese partners appreciate Nam Long’s commitment to providing value and lifestyle.

“Both of us are railway companies, and the role of railway companies in Japan is to establish connections between the city centre and suburbs, helping expand economic zones from the centre of the city to the suburbs as a way of providing life-related facilities, including homes, offices, hotels, shopping centres, and entertainment facilities. That is why we feel Nam Long’s motto ‘about enjoying yourself through a new lifestyle in the suburbs’ matches our aspirations,” Matsuo said.

Matsuo added that Vietnam’s property market was extremely attractive as it offered huge growing demand in the future, which was an added consideration for the Japanese firms deciding to invest in Vietnam.

He said demand for housing was rapidly growing in Ho Chi Minh City and the first metro line would also add to the attractiveness of more further-flung projects in the city’s suburbs.

“We believe that with the further development of Ho Chi Minh City and the high growth in demand for housing in the city, we are sure that this project will prove very successful,” he said.

Apart from contributing investment, the Japanese companies will also share their ample development experience, as well as providing products based on a 3G concept: gettable, green and greater.

Nam Long chairman Nguyen Xuan Quang said that Flora was an upscale brand of the company’s existing EHome concept which leads the affordable housing segment in Vietnam.

“Flora Anh Dao is the first product targeted at mid and higher level income earners,” Quang said.

Quang also said that the Flora product would provide profits of 12 to 15 per cent and account for about 15 per cent of Nam Long’s total turnover in 2015.

Located at Nam Long – Phuoc Long B residential area in District 9, Flora Anh Dao has good transport links.

Set for completion in 2016, the 16-floor Flora Anh Dao block will offer 500 units, a Japanese-style garden, community club, children's playground and other amenities. Ranging from 54 to 67 square metres, Flora Anh Dao apartments will cost around VND18.9 million ($900) per square metre.

According to CBRE Vietnam managing director Marc Townsend, Nam Long’s ‘affordable premium’ product was unique.

“The concept is very new and it combines all necessary requirements for apartments. They are affordable, green, beautiful, and high quality,” said Townsend.

‘It should be a popular project, particularly with its Japanese investors,’ he added.

Nam Long is one of the pioneering township developers in Vietnam. With 23 years of development experience, it is well-known for projects in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Can Tho, Long An, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and Dong Nai, currently holding 572 hectares of land for development.

Having supplied more than 3,300 units since 2008, Nam Long’s EHome brand is known in Vietnam for its affordable flats.

The company intends to develop 6,000 Flora apartments in the next three to five years in Ho Chi Minh City and is keen to acquire suitable land plots to develop this product.