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In recent years, the economy of Hanoi, Vietnam, outperformed and its GDP soared above the rest of the country, attracting a number of international corporate and investors into the country’s business sectors. In all, the property market is favored among international investors. The government’s redevelopments with ongoing infrastructure initiatives including the airport expansion and the improvement of a transport network will stimulate the property market. Golden Emperor Properties hosted the Vietnam’s Capital City, Hanoi Property Market Seminar over the past weekend to launch Malaysian listed developer, Gamuda Land Vietnam Zen Residence, designed around a ‘City within a City’ concept, which received a wide support from investors in Hong Kong.

Photo Above: Managing Director, Mr. Terence Chan, hosts the seminar and discussion on Vietnam’s market trend.

Photo Above: Zen Residence received a great amount of support from investors in Hong Kong.

Vietnam is imitating China in its effort to power its economy and lags behind China by only a decade of development and investment growth.

China opened its doors to foreign direct investments in 1978, then 10 years later, Vietnam followed. Now Vietnam is trying to hold its grip against corruptions, traffic issues and the sinking performances of state-owned businesses as its middle class of work force expands. Such are all trademarks of China’s development in the previous decades.

The similarities between the two isn’t only its trademark developments, but Vietnam’s latest plan to examine a bill to allow the country to run on 3 special economic zones. VnExpress International, Vietnam’s online news platform, reports these economic zones will offer foreign factory investors tariff exemptions and long land leases. China created its first four special economic zones in 1979 to attract foreign investments, now there are a total of 32 in the country.

Government’s Control Over Manufacturing and Exports

Headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City’s Infocus Mekong Research’s CEO Mr. Ralf Matthews, said, governments in both countries focuses mainly on factory work to power its economy and employs a large amount of people from the uneducated populations.

Relying on manufacturing and especially in exports, China’s economy soared at an overwhelmingly high rate of 10% per year over the decades leading to 2010. Vietnam’s economy, on the other hand, has risen by 6% per year since 2015.

Following China’s footsteps a decade ago, Vietnam is heavily relying on a high number of exports of manufactured goods including garment, furniture, electronics and automobiles accessories. A decade later, China is in queue to be a global leader for high-technology services and goods. Companies from Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the West often offshore factory work to China and Vietnam to reduce labor cost. China has been dubbed the ‘World’s factory’ and Vietnam is now called, ‘China + 1.’ This emerging country is now in line to be the world’s destination for investors to expand production to a cheaper country.

“How do you employ a bunch of unskilled workers?” Matthaes said. “Obviously mass manufacturing is one way. I think even Vietnam holds Singapore in high regards in terms of being the greatest model, but it is actually China.”

Results from Controlling a Fast Pace Economic Growth

Specialists pointed that China’s past development and economic growth from manufacturing in the past decade is seen in Vietnam presently. Boston Consultation reported that the middle working class or above in Vietnam, has multiplied from 2014 to 2020 to 93 million, consisting of one-third of Vietnam’s total population. In China, in its large population of 1.38 billion, only 3.1% are among the poor.

Vietnamese also follows the footsteps of Chinese, and switch jobs within months to reach for higher paid jobs in order to purchase new and up to date smartphones and cars, as well as showing off with expensive high-end dinners. In Ho Chi Minh City, the financial center of Vietnam, traffic remains to be chaotic, similar to China’s major cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

Specialists also provided that in China, anti-corruption movements have begun in the country since 2012, and the same has taken place in Vietnam starting last year in 2017.

 Source: Voice of America

Hanoi is undergoing rapid development with its infrastructure and skyscraper building in new developing districts from a large influx of overseas investment. In old districts, on the other hand, architects and designers are occupied with innovating bold designs, creating reworks hidden among an old world of shophouses as Vietnam strives on to reform its cityscape. Shophouses are traditional characteristics in Hanoi which have been prevalent from old centuries. Here, boldness and traditions coexist without flaws.

Reworks into Café Koi

In the old Hoan Kiem district, a small café is enveloped between a midst of old and crooked buildings on the street. Despite its narrow space, Café Koi, leaps out from the crowd. Its exterior is built from orange- red roof tiles from the Champa Era, stacked high into the open air. As you venture through the entrance, a koi-carp pool adds statement to the minimalist café of concrete and stone slabs. The rest of the space is decorated using water features against a backdrop of tables and high chairs made from bamboo cultivated locally. Visitors can sit on the bench and dangle their feet over a half-exposed pool with gold fishes swimming and sip on some coffee on a chill afternoon. Water features are not only decorative, but is symbolic for wealth in Vietnamese culture and here, is able to recycle and oxygenate the fish in the ponds. The exterior of stacked curved tiles creates the rippling effect of fish scales, a double reminisces of the café’s ‘Koi’ theme.

Reworks into Studio 102

Two streets away from Café Koi, is Studio 102, where half of a traditional shophouse is renovated into an office for an architectural firm. The shophouse’s dramatic contrast will capture any pass-byers. A stone slab walkway at the entrance, topping a shallow pond of water, leads to the central atrium of the building. Vertical fencing surrounds the space to provide a sense of privacy yet facilitate the office with the busy atmosphere beyond the fences. A series of green planters is able to communicate nature amidst a sea of concrete shophouses. The studio revolutionizes the traditional office space, in-different to the partitioned Vietnamese office.

Reworks into Panasonic’s Lantern

Nicknamed the Lantern, Hanoi’s Panasonic showroom also nestles in the same area. Similar to Café Koi, the Lantern has a signature red exterior made from proliferated terracotta bricks. Light can travel through the bricks and create a contrasting effect on the staircase as well as provide natural lighting. The Lantern is a gallery for Panasonic’s light products placed along the staircase where visitors can admire the items walking up and down the staircase. Tables, chairs and even shelves showcasing the products are made from sustainable materials such as local bamboo and thatch. The showroom is a piece of sustainability architecture in the center of the old district.

Those visiting and traveling the city can disembark on an exploration to these hidden architectural gems in the city and be amazed at the integration of such refreshing designs with a new focus on design and sustainability by building with local materials. The spotlight, however, is the innovative reworking of traditional Hanoi shophouses.

Besides understanding the property market in Hanoi and providing insights into its latest trending investments, Golden Emperor will additionally share the city’s local top stories, lifestyle news and travel destinations. Let us continue to bring you to discover Hanoi’s world of traditions and learn about the this prominent culture of the city, like this article in the old world of shophouses.

SonKim Land Corporation has recently won awards in three key categories at the reputable Asia Pacific Property Awards 2018 for their Serenity Sky Villas project. The categories were “Apartment,” “Residential High-rise Development,” and “Architecture Multiple Residence.”

These prestigious awards granted the Serenity Sky Villas project a nomination in the category of “Condominium Asia Pacific” at the awards ceremony last week in Thailand, and a chance to enter the International Property Awards Contest which will be held in London in November 2018.

“This award is a great recognition of our efforts with the Serenity Sky Villas project,” Mr. Andy Han Suk Jung, CEO of SonKim Land, told people at the ceremony. “For this project, we chose Ward 7 of District 3, which is not only packed with alluring local businesses, but is also an area known for its stunning cultural heritage and architectural value to upper-class Saigonese, both in the past and present. Continuing to win prestigious international awards has contributed to affirming the value of SonKim Land on the real estate market in Vietnam and in the region.”

Serenity Sky Villas is a luxury condominium project in Ho Chi Minh City that was developed by SonKim Land. The project, which is located in District 3, is comprised of 45 exclusive sky villas that range from one to four bedrooms units as well as penthouses. The key design concept is to create a genuine tropical skyscraper with villas in the sky. As such, each condominium also comes with its own private garden and swimming pool. The gardens face the living room, the dining room and master bedroom.

Serenity Sky Villas will redefine the sky villas concept with its unique architectural expression offering residents an inspiring, luxurious, and sustainable urban lifestyle.

The Asia Pacific Property Awards is part of the International Property Awards, a world-renowned mark of excellence for the past 20 years. The awards celebrate the highest levels of achievement by companies operating in all sectors of the property and real estate industry in Africa, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Canada, Caribbean, Central & South America, Europe, the UK, and the U.S. Participants enter at their relevant national level and are judged by a highly experienced team of professionals who cover the whole range of property.

Earlier, SonKim Land was also voted as the leading real estate investment and development company in Ho Chi Minh City by the IAIR Awards 2018 for the “Excellence of the Year – Leading Real Estate” category.

Source: Vietnam EconomicTimes

Vietnam has received its latest recognition as a global leading economy from Fitch Ratings, one of the world’s three credit rating agencies. Vietnam won a sovereign rating upgrade with strong performing foreign-exchange reserve and economic growth. The upgrade places the nation closer to investment grade, ahead of its Southeast Asian neighbors.

The rating on the nation’s foreign currency dominated debt was raised one level to BB from BB- with a stable outlook. The upgrade will put Vietnam into a higher speculative grade expected to increase its growth on the stock market.

The gross domestic product of Vietnam grew by a 6.8% from last year and 6.2% from 2016 with exports supporting the manufacturing and services sectors. On average, the GDP growth has reached around 6.2% in the past five years, a 3.4% higher than countries with BB ratings from Fitch. It is expected that this year, the GDP growth will reach 6.7% with a large number of international partnerships initiated by the government and a strong flow of foreign direct investment to increase room for growth for both public and private business sectors. Vietnam remains the fastest growing economy in the Asia-Pacific region and fastest among ‘BB’ rated peers.

In addition, Vietnam’s external factors has increase a capital injection into the nation and a rising foreign-exchange reserve. Reserves are forecast to climb to about US $66 billion by the end of this year from 49 billion USD in 2017, increasing by approximately US $38 billion. Government debt would likely decline to below 50 percent of gross domestic product by 2019 according to Fitch’s calculation. The budget deficit is estimated to narrow to about 4.6 percent of GDP in 2018 from about 4.7 percent in 2017.

Source: AAStocks