Land prices slide in HCMC suburbs

In Hoc Mon District brokers are listing land at 19 million per square meter but there are no buyers, even at a 27% decline year-on-year.

In Binh Chanh District, a land lot priced at VND60 billion last year was offered at VND35 billion by the end of June. A local broker, Dien, said that a customer had looked at the lot but had yet to agree with the price.

In the neighboring Nha Be District a land lot of 85 square meters is being sold at VND2.5 billion, down 19% year-on-year.

Brokers say that in Cu Chi District, land prices have dropped by 30-40% year-on-year.

Property investor Nguyen Quynh Anh, who has been monitoring the HCMC outskirts market for 15 years, said that some lots had seen prices plunging by up to 35% year-on-year but still buyers were seeking even bigger discount.

She said that in the last six months only lots that have been sold at 40-50% lower year-on-year were bought.

A similar situation has been seen in HCMC’s neighboring provinces.

Chau, a broker in Dong Nai Province, said that in early July land prices had dropped by 25% year-on-year in Bien Hoa and Nhon Trach areas.

Sales was slow and there were so no signs of improvement in the second quarter, he added.

A leader of a HCMC-based brokerage which sells land lots in Long An Province said that in the last eight months most developers have not sold any lots.

There were only activities on the secondary market where prices have dropped by 15-20% year-on-year, he said.

Market research company DKRA Group saw land prices in HCMC and neighboring provinces falling 12% year-on-year in the second quarter.

The drops were seen mostly at projects that are yet to acquire all legal permits, it said.

Nguyen Loc Hanh, CEO of property developer Ngoc Chau A, said that many buyers are yet to have faith in the property market where difficulties are forecast to linger in upcoming months.

Prices will only stop falling when loan interests are down by a considerable amount, which will help investors to use loans to purchase land, he said, adding that the by the fourth quarter there might be positive signs of recovery.