There is no letup in the massive demand for apartments and land in HCMC and nearby provinces ahead of Lunar New Year (Tet), with experts attributing it to new zoning plans and skyrocketing gold prices.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai Co. has registered around 10,000 prospective buyers for 1,000 apartments it plans to build in the city’s District 2.

The firm said lots would be drawn next May to choose the 1,000 lucky buyers who will each shell out at least US$1,500 per square meter.

Property investors said many other apartment blocks were also set to come up in Districts 7, Tan Binh, Binh Tan, Binh Chanh, and Nha Be, and attracted a rush from prospective buyers.

Construction companies told Thanh Nien that hikes in the prices of construction materials had not discouraged them from launching a clutch of luxury apartment projects because of the massive demand.

The relentless rise in gold prices has also sent housing prices in Districts 1, 3, Go Vap and Tan Binh surging.

Apartments and houses are traditionally valued in gold, and the price of a tael (37.5 grams) of gold has risen from around VND13 million a few months ago to over VND17 million recently.

Binh Duong, Dong Nai also overheated

Land prices in the Nam Tan Uyen urban area project in Binh Duong Province, 35km northeast of HCMC, have doubled since last August to VND12 million-VND14 million ($749- $874) per square meter.

Investors said the prices had sometimes risen by VND1 million a day, with the most coveted plots being in the 4,196-hectare industry-service-urban area.

Land value in the complex’s Phu My urban area has doubled in the last week to VND4 million per square meter.

L., a local resident, told the media that the value of her two land lots had soared from VND1.8 billion to VND2.4 billion ($150,000) two weeks after she sold them.

Prices in Phu Chanh urban area went up from VND10 million late last year to VND25 million now.

Other urban areas in the complex, like Hoa Loi and Dinh Hoa, have also seen prices skyrocket.

Analysts attributed it to the fact that the industry-service-urban area had been nominated as the province’s economic and administrative hub.

But Binh Duong’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment dismissed the rise as a bubble caused by land speculators and brokers.

The department’s director, PhamDanh, said around 40 percent of buyers flocking to Binh Duong were from HCMC.

Elsewhere, in Dong Nai Province to the northeast of HCMC, the property boom has hit Nhon Trach District where land prices have soared 30-40 percent in the last three months.

Government measures

The government hopes to slow down the property rush this year by increasing the supply of housing and introducing measures to curb speculation and wasteful use of property, construction and land officials have said.

It is considering increasing land taxes by four or five times and slapping a housing tax.

The Ministry of Finance is also drafting a “progressive tax” scheme so that people pay increasingly higher rates of tax on excessive or unproductive land.

The government said it was expected to take effect in the first quarter.

But the scheme faces opposition from real estate businesses which say Vietnam’s inadequate property registration system will make these new provisions impossible to enforce.

Land authorities are also convinced that the property price bubble will soon pop with the introduction of more policy measures this year.

Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre