Ashui.com

Sales of apartments, villas and townhouses were up in the first quarter of this year, according to experts.

Savills Vietnam , at the launch of its quarterly report in Hanoi this week, said that apartments had good sales, with about 70 per cent of stock being sold, despite a doubling in available property compared with the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, average secondary asking prices increased 3 per cent compared with the fourth quarter of 2010. In which, Long Bien achieved the strongest increase at around 8.5 per cent, followed by Gia Lam at 6 per cent against the last quarter of 2010, the report said.

CB Richard Ellis Ltd Company (CBRE), another real estate market research firm, also released its quarterly report this week echoing Savills' optimism.

CBRE said sale rates in the high-end segment improved. Newly-launched projects sold well, partly due to new market techniques.

For instance, developers had offered discount of up to 8 per cent to special group buyers.

This had encouraged buyers to take advantage of preferential offers, with advantages including index-linking contract value to the CPI (consumer price index).

Apartments had continued to prove lucrative as speculators had shifted investments due to the devaluation of the dong and restrictions on the trade of gold bullion, said the CBRE.

However, buyers will be more selective by aggressively comparing prices against other factors such as location, reputation, quality and project facilities.

Savills also saw some indicators that revealed increasing demand for apartments for sale in the coming time because more than half of the total population is under 30 and average incomes of Hanoi residents has continued to increase.

The market showed potential demand among medium and low-income earners for apartments, as land prices were too high, said Savills.

(VIR / VNA)