The NHS Trung Van social housing project in Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi, received thousands of lottery purchase registrations when it opened for sale earlier this year. Many people had to line up to submit their applications as early as 2 a.m. since the developer only accepted 40 applications per day.
Although 1,300 people met the qualifications, they still had to participate in a lottery draw on May 20, 2023. Many arrived as early as 4 a.m. and waited for over six hours for the draw to start at 10:30 a.m. However, with only 149 apartments available, the odds of winning were slim, at one in nine.
The approved selling price was over 19.5 million VND per square meter, with rental prices at approximately 99,000 VND per square meter per month. The apartment sizes ranged from 69.9 to 76.8 square meters, resulting in a total cost of ownership ranging from 1.39 to 1.52 billion VND. These prices were the highest among the first sales of social housing projects in Hanoi, with previous prices typically ranging from 13 to 17 million VND.
The NHS Trung Van social housing project was constructed on a site covering more than 2,700 square meters, with a building density of over 46%. The investment capital was sourced from non-budget funds, totaling approximately 600 billion VND. The project comprised three apartment buildings and 48 shophouses, including one 32-story social housing tower with two basement levels and two commercial apartment towers. The social housing tower is expected to be handed over in the first quarter of 2025.
However, some social housing projects have struggled to find buyers despite multiple sales attempts. A notable example is the AZ Thang Long Social Housing and Commercial Services Complex in Hoai Duc district, developed by the Thang Long Confectionery Joint Stock Company. Located on Road 32, the project consists of four 35-story buildings.
The complex offers a total of 1,496 apartments, including 264 commercial units, 911 social housing units for sale, and 321 social housing units for rent. The selling price of social housing units in this project is slightly over 14 million VND per square meter, and the rental price is expected to be over 61,000 VND per square meter per month. However, despite 26 sales attempts from 2015 to April 2023, only 869 social housing units and 235 rental units have been sold.
The AZ Thang Long Social Housing and Commercial Services Complex (formerly known as Bright City) was initially a commercial housing project. However, during its implementation, the project faced several setbacks, and in 2014, the developer requested to convert it into a social housing project to benefit from incentives.
In February 2014, the Hanoi People’s Committee approved the conversion of the project from commercial to social housing, and the developer committed to completing the construction and handing over the apartments in the third or fourth quarter of 2017.
However, the project fell behind schedule, and the developer failed to deliver the apartments as per the purchase agreements. Buyers had to seek help from authorities on multiple occasions. Today, one of the apartment blocks remains unfinished, with the entrance sealed off by metal sheets, and the interior filled with construction debris and no workers in sight.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Tu, a leader of a real estate exchange in Hanoi, the NHS Trung Van project is located near the city center. Surrounding projects in this area now have prices exceeding 30 million VND per square meter, making them highly sought after. In contrast, social housing projects in Hoai Duc and other outlying districts are less desirable due to their distance from the city center. Despite lower prices, these projects have not attracted much interest.
