In spite of the struggling realty market, project owners in Hanoi have still launched a host of products and they are luring homebuyers with promotions in soft loan programs and slashing real estate prices.



Numerous project sales in the market

In the last month, Hanoi had seen developers launching a series of projects at less than VND20 million per square meter. The overwhelming presence of new projects with lowered prices has brought positive signals to the northern realty market.

For instance, The Sun Garden, Dai Thanh condo, An Binh Tower or Tan Tay Do apartment projects in the capital are now attractive to customers.

The most obvious change was recorded at the housing sale by Xa La urban area project owner at Muong Thanh realty trading floor in Bac Linh Dam at the start of the month.  With prices of VND600 million-VND900 million per unit, the sale of CT8A of Dai Thanh urban area caught the attention of a lot of consumers. Most homebuyers said the price was affordable for those wanting to buy homes to live in, but not willing to fork out for expensive property.

Besides, it is believed that Dai Thanh condo scheme enticed homebuyers because of its flexible payment method. “It is affordable for our family to invest in the project as the first deposit is less than VND100 million while the next payment is scheduled upon the tenth storey construction,” said a buyer who deposited to buy a flat in the scheme.

Similarly, prices of other condo schemes in Hanoi are also said to be much cheaper than in previous times. Those buyers having VND1-2 billion in hand will have more choices in home buying, with the distance between their homes to the city center shorter than before.

In the expanded area (former Ha Dong District) in Hanoi, one square meter of condo averages out at VND14-22 million. Meanwhile, other schemes in Minh Khai area like Thang Long Garden, Hoa Binh Green City and Mo Market are priced at VND23 million to VND25 million a square meter.

Property consultancy firm Knight Frank and Hanoi Investment and Construction Joint Stock Co. No. 9 (Hanco 9) on June 16 marketed N03 Tower of the Berriver Long Bien apartment project priced from VND1.8 billion a unit. With the starting price ranging from VND23.5 million to VND26.5 million per square meter, the two companies launched the sale of over 300 flats, providing more products to the oversized supply.

Lots of promotions available

Despite the central bank’s three consecutive adjustments to pull down annual deposit rates to 9% from the previous 14%, several northern homebuyers still opt for tightening their belts and a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude.

In a bid to woo such customers, multiple developers have proactively joined hands with lenders to offer preferential credit packages targeting homebuyers.

Southeast Asia Commercial Bank (SeABank) in association with Hanco 9 has deployed preferential credit packages for Berriver Long Bien condo project homebuyers with a lending rate from 11.99% per annum in the first three months. Thanks to the lending program which will finish on August 10, clients can borrow up to 70% of an apartment’s value with a maximum term of 20 years.

Also, the developer on the first day of sales announced that there are 20 gifts of 55-inch Samsung LED TVs for first-time buyers.

Credit support solutions for customers are also taken by Tan Hoang Minh Group, developer of the high-class D’.Palais de Louis project. The developer and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) have given soft credits to homebuyers with terms of up to 15 years.

Homebuyers of Tan Hoang Minh will enjoy an annual lending rate of 7% for flats covering from 190 square meters and 9% for flats of less than 120 square meters in the first six months. They will only have to repay the principal to the bank after 18 months since the first disbursement.

In addition, a slew of project owners adjust discount levels up to 15-20% or hand over automobiles or interior products to homebuyers while others have cut prices by 30% year-on-year.

Lifeline for homebuyers

To take a chance on cut-price home prices and interest rates over the past few months, a lot of people have decided to withdraw savings and take out loans to buy homes.

At a DongABank transaction office on Chua Boc Street, a customer named Lien withdrew VND500 million worth of savings to buy a house. Lien said her family decided to use the savings plus a VND500-million loan to buy a flat in the west of the city as the monthly lending rate and principal are affordable to them.

As such, the prices of under VND20 million per square meter of housing projects along with incentive policies from lenders have helped a number of local people turn their housing dream into reality.

SGT