Rush for middle income earners’ new status symbol

More and more Hanoians are looking to escape their crowded capital during the weekends

Hanoi region holiday villa prices are climbing. Archi Land Vietnam last month finished first phase sales of Green Villas 4, with around 80 per cent of villas sold.

The price of the property in Ba Vi district in the second phase would increase by around 5 per cent compared with the first phase, or VND2.8 billion ($140,000) up to VND5 billion ($250,000) a villa.

Archi Land Vietnam director Nguyen Thanh Trung said the increase in price was a closer evaluation to the real value of the product.

“It take only 45 minutes to go from Hanoi’s centre through the newly built Thang Long boulevard to the project,” Trung told VIR.

“We have seen that the project’s value is now clearer than it was previously and we do believe that the growth will be stronger in the second quarter of 2012,” Trung said.

Neighbouring areas of Hanoi now host a range of holiday villa projects. Outstanding projects include the Flamingo Dai Lai resort in Vinh Phuc province, Cai Gia-Cat Ba tourism township in Haiphong and a range of projects developed by Archi Invest in Ba Vi, a district 60 kilomtres to the west of Hanoi.

Nguyen Tai Tien, from the Hanoi Housing Development and Investment Corporation said the demand for villas had become hotter with rising living standards.

“For many high-income earners, owning a villa in urban areas meant that they have reached a new level in society. Moreover, apart from weekend holidays, these villas also can bring benefit for their owners when the villa is operated and leased by professional operators,” Tien said.

The investor of the Flamingo Dai Lai Resort, Hong Hac Dai Lai, said resort villas in the project had been hunted by customers.

The company, at the end of last year, launched the second phase of the project, with 14 villas, after successfully selling 16 villas in July 2010.

Hanoians are seeking a holiday destination not far from their homes to escape the polluted city in the weekends. Most projects in the north to date are small-scale tourism developments.

Gia Tue Investment Company is investing $20 million to build the Grand Arena Hill project in Ba Vi district. The project, which leans on the Ba Vi mountain and looks over the Da River, comprises a 100-room four-star hotel and 40 luxury pool villas with land plot ranging 350-550 square metres. Construction is expected to finish within the next three years.

Tran Minh Hoang, chairman of Gia Tue Investment, said villas would be sold to individual buyers under the long-term lease contract with price of no less than $1,000 per square metre.

Trung said the villa resort market would be more prosperous, but better zoning and tourism development policies were needed.

Trung also stressed on the possibility of creating benefits from villa resorts, rather than other products of real estate market.

“Most properties would be kept vacant when it is unused however the villa resort could be leased and bring about benefit to its owners. Therefore, the villas always are in serve, being carefully taken care and their evaluation increased,” Trung added.

Archi Invest is developing many villa resort projects in Vietnam, including Green Villas, Tan Vien, Lam Son, Bella and Vien Nam.