The Great Detached Home – Villa Conundrum: An Unexpected Twist

Avison Young’s Q1 2025 data indicates a continued scarcity of townhouse and villa supply in Ho Chi Minh City. There were only over 400 units available in the SOLA Dao Anh Duong subdivision of The Global City and a handful of existing products in The Meadow, Van Phuc City.

According to the company, the primary selling price of land-attached houses in Ho Chi Minh City ranged from 7,200 to 9,500 USD/sqm (equivalent to VND 180-240 million/sqm). Prices increased by about 4-6% for subsequent launches and about 10% for projects located on key transportation routes. The absorption rate remained stable at 65-70%.

Mr. David Jackson, CEO of Avison Young, said that the high property prices of townhouses and villas in Ho Chi Minh City exceed the affordability of most people. Along with infrastructure overload, this is driving the expansion of urban areas to neighboring areas – where infrastructure has been heavily invested in over the past time. “Upcoming supply will focus mainly on satellite cities such as Long An and Dong Nai. Centrifugal development will be the main trend, leading the market,” he emphasized.

It is noted that, from the beginning of 2025 up to now, the Long An market has emerged with many large-scale urban area projects that are under construction or being sold in the next phase. Some notable projects include Vinhomes Green City (Vinhomes), Eco Retreat Long An (Ecopark), Waterpoint (Nam Long), La Home (Prodezi Long An), An Huy Viet My (An Huy Real Estate Company), Tan Tru Royal (Thang Loi Group)… along with some urban areas are in the site clearance and compensation stage for investment.

Among them, some existing urban area projects, where residents have come to live, are located adjacent to key infrastructure routes that are being expanded and are of interest to buyers. For example, the 355-hectare Waterpoint project, located at the intersection of Ring Road 4, direct connection to Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong – My Thuan Expressway, adjacent to the intersection of Ben Luc – Long Thanh Expressway and Ring Road 3… So, when recently launched the villa and mansion products, it received positive attention from buyers, including investors from the North.

Similarly, the La Home project by Prodezi Long An, which is currently selling the next phase, recorded quite positive liquidity. This is a townhouse project with an area of more than 100ha located on two fronts of Ring Road 4 on Luong Hoa – Binh Chanh road, near key infrastructure routes that are being invested in.

Commenting on the trend of the townhouse and villa market, Ms. Giang Huynh, Director of Research & Consultancy, Savills Ho Chi Minh City, emphasized that the new supply in Ho Chi Minh City is scarce and high-priced inventory continues to lead to an imbalance in supply and demand. Products priced at more than VND 30 billion/unit in Ho Chi Minh City increased strongly and accounted for more than 70% of the primary supply. This encourages home buyers to move to neighboring provinces, where supply is abundant and prices are more affordable.

Regarding the reason for the shift, Savills experts analyzed that the strong development of infrastructure in the southern provinces is promoting the expansion to the outskirts and neighboring provinces of Ho Chi Minh City. Key projects such as Ring Road 3 of Ho Chi Minh City, Ring Road 4 of Ho Chi Minh City, Ben Luc – Long Thanh Expressway, Bien Hoa – Vung Tau Expressway, Ho Chi Minh City – Thu Dau Mot – Chon Thanh Expressway… have contributed to promoting supply and demand for housing. Infrastructure will become a driving force to diversify the supply for the area adjacent to Ho Chi Minh City with the formation of new residential areas and improved development quality.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Dinh Minh Tuan, Director of Batdongsan.com.vn, affirmed that the trend of urban space expansion is taking place strongly, boosting the demand for real estate in satellite cities, in which Long An stands out with a series of large-scale urban areas of big investors. Infrastructure opens up bottlenecks, real estate prices in depressed areas, and the ability to catch the wave of population expansion are the factors promoting the centrifugal trend from the center to satellite cities of Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Mr. Tuan, up to now, the development of suburban real estate has always faced three major difficulties: unable to attract residents, far from the center, and incomplete project infrastructure. However, recently, with continuous investment in infrastructure development along with the appearance of big brands in the industry will open up bottlenecks for suburban real estate. “Vingroup’s construction of Vinhome Hau Nghia, with an area of more than 197 hectares, is considered a breakthrough milestone for the area, along with a series of enterprises that have been present in Long An for a long time to develop large-scale urban area projects, showing that the face of satellite real estate will change a lot,” emphasized Mr. Tuan.

Affirming that the expansion of urban space to satellite cities of Ho Chi Minh City will be a trend leading the real estate market in the coming time, Mr. Dinh Minh Tuan said that this is an opportunity for the real estate market to develop along with it, especially for well-planned urban areas, which are in the early stages of infrastructure investment. When the key infrastructure projects are completed in 2025-2026, property prices will increase by an average of 10-15%/year, especially in areas with favorable locations connecting to Ho Chi Minh City.

Predicting the trend of the real estate market in Ho Chi Minh City’s satellite cities in the coming time, Mr. Dinh Minh Tuan said that the supply of townhouses and villas in the satellite cities of Ho Chi Minh City will continue to increase strongly. Many large investors participate in project implementation with diverse segments, thereby forming a potential real estate market.

Also sharing about the potential and reasons for the strong development of Ho Chi Minh City’s satellite real estate in the past time, Mr. Vo Huynh Tuan Kiet, Director of Residential CBRE Vietnam, emphasized that Long An, Dong Nai, and Binh Duong are emerging thanks to the advantages of infrastructure connectivity, abundant land funds, reasonable costs, and significant potential for price increases in the medium term. The actual housing demand is still very large, the rapid population growth rate along with the expansion of the young workforce, the middle class has promoted the real estate trading activities of these areas.

According to Mr. Kiet, the focus of large investors on the development of large-scale projects in the satellite cities of Ho Chi Minh City has attracted a lot of attention from investors. In addition to the fact that urban area projects support the supply of products for Ho Chi Minh City in the declining phases, with low prices, diverse product types, and large-scale utilities, these products attract the attention of the market.

However, CBRE experts said that for large-scale projects, in addition to implementing business products, investors must pay attention to utilities to serve living needs, the ability to attract residents, and the actual exploitation capacity. These factors will help the product value to develop rapidly, avoiding becoming ghost towns, and wasting resources.

In fact, although there are many real estate projects appearing around Ho Chi Minh City, the number of projects that actually complete infrastructure, utilities, and attract residents is still very limited. This poses a problem for sustainable development strategies, as it is necessary not only to expand urban space but also to ensure the quality of life to attract long-term residents.