Unbaked construction materials producers will enjoy more favorable conditions in production and business thanks to market trends and local policies backing the environmentally-friendly materials, said an industry source. Using green materials is not only suitable with the global trend but also helps save natural resources and protect the environment, said Tran Van Huynh, chairman of the Vietnam Construction... 

Although many housing projects have recently offered their products for sale to cash in on the VND30-triliion home loan that has just started rolling and prices have declined, the apartment market in Hanoi is still quiet. Meanwhile, the segment of houses and land lots in the outskirts seems to heat up with a slight rise in transactions. Apartments ignored Right after the home loan package became effective,... 

Many housing project owners are seeking to switch to the low-cost segment to cope with a buildup of their unsold homes, sparking concern that the quality of apartments may fall in line with their lowered prices. Some low-cost housing projects have lowered investment costs by 12-15% to bring down apartment prices to around VND12 million per square meter to qualify for the VND30-trillion home credit... 

Some 700,000 low-cost homes will need to be built from now to 2015 to meet the demand of citizens, said the Agency of Housing and Real Estate Market in a report to the Minister of Construction. From now to 2015, about 1.74 million people in urban areas nationwide will be living in housing with less than five square meters per person, and 1.71 million workers will have the demand for a condo. To meet... 

Local investors are venturing  into real estate project acquisition despite a moribund economy. The biggest-ever deal in the real estate market was announced last week, with the transfer of Ho Chi Minh City’s Vincom A Centre from Vingroup to Vietnam Infrastructure and Property Development Group (VIPD) for VND9,823 billion ($470 million). Vingroup claimed it reaped an estimated profit of VND4,300... 

The “greening” of Vietnam’s residential market is still in its initial stage. But developers and end-users are quickly embracing the virtues of energy-efficient and eco-friendly designs, materials and technologies. Many developers nowadays focus on green values to distinguish themselves from others. A range of real estate projects have been developed under green criteria. Among those are Ecopark,... 

Property indices are intended to serve as a tool for both regulators and enterprises to monitor market movements but the Ministry of Construction has still been struggling to collect enough data to publish the indices. Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Nam, speaking at an event marking the tenth birthday of the Vietnam Real Estate Association in HCMC last Friday, said his ministry had made... 

While the HCMC Department of Construction is making a list of budget and small-sized housing projects to be offered to beneficiaries of the VND30-trillion subsidy package next month, it is commercial banks that decide who can access these soft loans. A banker in the group of five commercial banks selected to undertake the loans on Tuesday told the Daily that lenders have the right to give loans to... 

Vietnam’s struggling real estate market is still facing many challenges ahead. Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam general manager Chris Brown said 2013 was expected to remain a buyer’s market with falling prices. Demand for accommodation in Vietnam remained high, with its large, growing population and rising number of mid-income earners offering strong potential, Brown said. However, the market... 

The home loan package worth VND30 trillion aimed at stimulating the frozen property market will be available soon since the Ministry of Construction and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) are completing the final procedures. The construction ministry has drawn up a draft circular on conditions for borrowing loans to buy low-cost or commercial homes of less than 70 square meters each, which are priced...