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A "bare" plot of land in Hoai Duc was bought overnight, priced at over 130 million VND/m2, while nearby townhouses and pre-built villas were unoccupied.
Since the beginning of August, land auctions in districts on the outskirts of Hanoi have continuously attracted a large number of participants with thousands of registrations. In Hoai Duc on August 19, more than a dozen plots of land in Tien Yen commune were won at prices of over 100 million VND per square meter, the highest plot was up to 133.3 million VND - equal to villas and townhouses in some surrounding urban areas.
This western district is also one of the areas with a series of projects with thousands of abandoned villas and townhouses.
The Son Dong Center project, more than 3 km from the land in Tien Yen, is an example. Construction started 4 years ago, but until now, most of the townhouses here still have no residents.
The project has a scale of 2.5 hectares including 150 townhouses, area of 65-100 m2. Earlier this year, the investor opened the final sale of the last dozen townhouses.
On the transfer market, the townhouses located inside are priced at over 100 million VND/m2. Some corner houses, located on the national highway, are being sold for up to 160-180 million VND/m2. Thus, the total value of a townhouse inside here can be equivalent to a plot of land that was just auctioned in Tien Yen commune.
Only a few units on the street side of the project are rented out as real estate brokerage offices and religious items businesses.
Most of the remaining units at the back as shown in the photo are still vacant.
Previously, the investor advertised that the project could benefit from easy connection to the city's key routes such as Ring Road 3.5 or Ring Road 4.
Right next to the constructions of the center of Hoai Duc district is the new urban area north of National Highway 32 (Lideco), located in a chain of interconnected satellite urban areas in the western area of Hanoi. This project has nearly 650 single villas and over 130 townhouses, implemented since 2007.
Part of the project was completed and handed over more than a decade ago. Currently, this urban area has basically complete technical infrastructure, entertainment areas, shopping centers, and schools. However, many villas and townhouses are still uninhabited.
In the photo is a corner of the villas next to the central lake of the project, still in the same condition as at the time of handover. The transfer price of the villas by the lake ranges from 100-125 million VND/m2. With an area of 250-300 m2, the selling price can be up to 25-37 billion VND per unit, depending on the location. This selling price has increased by more than 20% compared to the end of last year, but liquidity is not high.
Inside a raw house at the Lideco project.
According to Mr. Huu Tuan, an investor with nearly 10 years of experience in the Western market, this type of product is difficult to liquidate because the price level has increased. This makes it difficult for those who need to live there to access. Many owners of these villas also have many other real estates, which were previously purchased mainly for speculative purposes.
To be able to complete this apartment with average furniture and no elevator, according to Mr. Tuan, the buyer would need at least 2-3 billion VND.
More than 1 km from Lideco is the Kim Chung - Di Trach Urban Area, invested by Vietracimex Construction Trading Joint Stock Corporation. The project is about 140 hectares wide and was approved in 2008. During the 2012-2013 market crisis, several projects were built and then abandoned. By the end of 2021, the investor restarted the project with a new commercial name, Hinode Royal Park.
Inside the urban area, rows of townhouses and villas are still empty, with no one living there. A few are rented out as offices by brokerage companies and trading floors. Many projects are still unfinished, and some rows are still under construction.
Although most of them are abandoned, the selling price of villas, townhouses, and shophouses here is still high. Some townhouses with an area of 90-105 m2 are offered for up to 11.5-16 billion VND each. Villas with an area of 200-250 m2 have a transfer price of 25-27 billion VND each.
In the photo is a corner of the Orange Garden project, commercial name Orange Garden, located in Van Canh commune, Hoai Duc district, with a series of uninhabited villas seen from above. The People's Committee of the former Ha Tay province approved the investor to develop this project in late 2007. The project has a scale of more than 46 hectares, with over 600 villas and townhouses ranging in area from 200 m2 to about 800 m2.
After more than 15 years, the entire villa has completed the exterior, with additional gates and fences. The surrounding landscape such as lakes, trees, and internal landscapes are already available.
Currently, the project has very few residents, while the selling price of villas here is up to tens of billions of VND. For example, some single villas of 340 m2 are offered for 34 billion VND. Some 200-240 m2 villas are also sold for 100-110 million VND per m2.
The road outside the Cam Garden villa project is still unfinished, making it impossible for the project to directly connect to Thang Long Avenue. Only a few houses on the street side are used as offices for real estate trading floors.
The series of low-rise houses in the An Lac Green Symphony project are completed with a modern exterior, painted in more eye-catching colors, but they are in the same situation as other projects in Hoai Duc that do not attract residents. Many villas here have signs prohibiting entry into the handed-over project, and violators will be fined 2 million VND.
In the urban area, some roads are still barricaded. Townhouses with an area of 80-100 m2 have an average price of 100-120 million VND/m2, villas with an area of 126 to 253 m2, the price is about 160-170 million VND/m2. Some semi-detached villas with an area of more than 250 m2 are being offered for 25.5 billion VND.
Nam An Khanh is one of the projects with the largest number of abandoned houses in Hoai Duc district. This project has a scale of nearly 1,800 low-rise products including townhouses and villas in An Khanh and An Thuong communes.
Initially, the project was approved for investors in 2006. However, after many legal and financial ups and downs, Nam An Khanh had to stop construction and only restarted it in 2015. Up to now, this urban area still has many unfinished items. Only a few houses on the main road of the urban area are used and rented out as real estate trading floors, restaurants, and cafes.
Professor Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, said that investment and real estate needs always go hand in hand in the real estate market. However, in many urban areas, investors who buy for speculation account for a large proportion of up to 70%, while only a small number buy for real estate.
When the market passes the "hot" stage, the group of investors will hold capital in a pile of assets waiting for a new cycle. Real buyers find it difficult to put money down because prices are pushed up or because the project lacks criteria to serve the needs of housing such as connecting infrastructure and utilities. This explains why many urban areas with thousands of villas and townhouses are abandoned without residents.
The rush to auction land, pushing the district's land price to over a hundred million VND per square meter, while thousands of adjacent villas with equivalent prices are abandoned, according to Mr. Vo, creates a paradoxical situation in the current real estate market.
He believes that the underlying cause comes from the purpose of speculation, hoarding goods to wait for a short-term gain. This creates the consequence that housing prices continue to escalate, beyond the ability of people.
