After years of scarcity of new supply, the central apartment market in District 1 suddenly prospered again with a series of new projects, with prices ranging from $7,500 to more than $16,000/m2.
After many years of compression due to legal problems and scarce land fund, investors in the late 2021 and early 2022 period have launched many new apartment projects in District 1.

A series of luxury projects on the "golden land"
One of the notable events of real estate in the downtown area of Ho Chi Minh City at the end of 2021 is the acquisition of the Saigon One Tower project by VivaLand Real Estate Group with 3 facades: Ton Duc Thang - Vo Van Kiet - Ham Doubt. After returning to the investor from Singapore, the project was renamed IFC One, Saigon with the design of a commercial building with a total floor area of 124,100 m2, including apartments. The project has now been resumed.
Considered a phenomenon of the real estate market in 2021 with a line of luxury apartments, Masterise Homes is also not an outsider with the Grand Marina project with a scale of up to 25.29 hectares on the front of Ton Duc Thang street. After a period of suspension due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the project resumed construction from the beginning of October with 8 apartment towers. As of early 2022, the selling price of apartments here is from 16,000 USD/m2, equivalent to 366 million VND/m2.
The market for luxury apartments in the center of District 1, Ho Chi Minh City is vibrant again at the beginning of the year.
At the end of March, Trung Thuy Group plans to open for sale the Lancaster Legacy project at 230 Nguyen Trai on an area of 8,491 m2. The project has the scale of 3 37-storey apartment towers so far, the foundation has been completed and is urgently implementing the final stages of the model house. The selling price of this project's products ranges from 150-180 million VND/m2.
In the first half of 2022, primary apartments in District 1 will mainly come from projects such as Grand Marina Saigon, Lancaster Legacy and the rest of The MarQ's shopping cart with prices ranging from $7,500/m2 to over $16,000/m2.
In Thu Thiem, apartment projects that are in the sale phase such as Empire City, The River, Metropole Thu Thiem still maintain at a lower price than District 1, ranging from about 5,800 USD/m2 to more than 7,500 USD/m2. On the secondary market, the supply of apartments in District 1 is also quite scarce, mainly from a number of projects such as Vinhomes Golden River, The MarQ, The Grand Manhattan, and Horizon Tower.
According to Savills data, the supply of Grade A apartments in 2022 is still quite scarce, mainly concentrated in District 1. In which, the supply of this segment only accounts for about 7% of the total primary supply. HCMC market in the last 4th quarter
Sharing with Zing, a representative of Trung Thuy Group said that according to the planning of Ho Chi Minh City, in the coming years the central districts will limit the development of high-rise housing projects, limiting the development of new projects. District 1, which contains historical and cultural heritages that have been associated with the city's formation and development, will continue to be the most desirable address for domestic and international investors.
Therefore, the land fund is narrowed, the procedures for new projects are tightened, making the supply of luxury real estate in the central area of District 1 less and less, while the demand for owning and renting luxury apartments constantly increasing", a representative of Trung Thuy Group commented.
Popular price 7,000-16,000 USD/m2
According to Mr. Vincent Nguyen, Sales Director of Housing Division of Savills Ho Chi Minh City, after a quiet year in 2021, the abundant supply in the housing segment begins to increase again. Experiencing a dismal third quarter of 2021, investors have regained confidence in the last 3 months of the year.
“Healthy demand thanks to the high budgets of customers buying properties as well as the lack of alternative investments will be a big driver for the rapid housing market recovery,” said Vincent.
This person also said that most of the projects in District 1 are in the A-class segment and have quite high selling prices of more than 7,000 USD/m2, with projects up to 16,000 USD/m2 is quite normal.
Experts believe that the good absorption in the high-end apartment segment in Ho Chi Minh City comes from the fact that this is a safe haven asset to avoid inflation.
“At the moment, this price is higher than the general level in Thu Thiem area. At the same time, the elite in Vietnam also grew quite rapidly in quantity and quality. They often have a high demand for real estate, especially luxury real estate in the central area, because they are not only luxurious and comfortable spaces but also a type of property that affirms their position. and class", he further analyzed.
Vincent Nguyen forecasts that in the future, when the demand for ownership of central real estate increases, along with the shrinking land bank, the price of this segment will go up.

In addition, the open-door policy for travel between Vietnam and other countries will also make the real estate market more vibrant, not only in the hotel and resort segment but also in the housing segment. Accordingly, overseas individual investors who previously could not come to the project or model house directly, but could only attend online sales events, can now come to Vietnam.
“Not only that, the serviced apartment segment will also prosper in the near future. According to research by Savills, Japanese and Korean professionals are the main tenants in Grade A serviced apartments, with a 79% market share in the first half of 2021 and increasing to 84% in the remaining two quarters. Therefore, the opening of international flights will have a strong impact on the supply of apartments to meet the long-term working needs of foreign experts", Mr. Vincent added.
Source: The Global City Project