The private-invested apartment fever in Hanoi

VietNamNet Bridge – Private-invested apartments in Hanoi have become ‘hot goods’ these days as they offer accommodations at very attractive prices.

The apartments in an alley off Cau Giay road

Private-invested apartments are apartments built and sold by individual investors. The apartments are mostly located on land plots of 200-300 sq m, with no schools or health care stations nearby.

They are mostly located in small alleys which cars cannot enter. Therefore, the apartments always have close atmospheres and worse conditions than normal commercial apartments located in areas with developed infrastructure.

However, they are very cheap and they prove to fit moderate and low-income earners.

The surprisingly low-cost apartments

Hung, a real estate broker, lead people seeking to buy an apartment to an apartment block located in an alley off Cau Giay road. The building has five storeys with no lift, and each of the apartments here has the area of 45-70 square metres.

Showing them a 45 square metre apartment on the fourth floor, Hung said that the apartment was on sale for 630 million dong, or 14 million dong per square metre. This was a two-room apartment, including one guest room, one bed room, a kitchen and a small toilet.

The problem with the apartment is lack of light inside. However, the price of the apartment proves to be very attractive, if noting that the commercial land price here is priced at 50 million dong per square metre and that other commercial apartments in the nearby area have prices at 24-25 million dong per square metre.

Hung related that one year ago, when private-invested apartments first appeared, the prices of the apartments were even lower, just 10-11 million dong per square metre.

Over the last year, more and more private-invested apartments have been built, especially in new districts like Thanh Xuan, Tay Ho and Cau Giay. The prices have increased to 12-16 million dong per square metre.

Why chose a private-built apartment?

It is simply because the apartments are mostly located in central areas, which is favourable for local residents, most of whom travel by motorbike anyway.

Hoang, 32, who lives in such an apartment in Cau Giay district in Hanoi, said that he was satisfied with the purchase. As his office is on Hoang Quoc Viet street near Cau Giay district, it does not take him much time to go to the office and then pick his children up from school.

As many people are choosing private-invested apartments, a lot of investors have decided to jump into the business, building apartments to sell.

An investor, who asked to remain anonymous, said that land plots for developing apartments were gardens or ponds which have been changed into accommodation land.

“These apartments prove to be selling better, because they have soft prices and they are located in central areas,” he said.

The model of private-invested apartments could bring the opportunity to have accommodations of their own to young families in cities. The model could also serve a suggestion for urban planners about how to resolve the accommodation question in urban areas.

VietNamNet/GDXH