Revolutionary changes: From downsizing to co-living and co-working spaces

Tan Hoang Minh Group continues to make significant changes in its investment strategy, marked by another apartment project on the bank of West Lake. Luxury real estate products are still its focus, but this has already been its third project that aims at young customers.

Cheaper price for luxury?

However, things are different with the D’ El Dorado II project. Despite being located on the West Lake, D' El Dorado II apartments are only priced at only about $70,000 per one-bedroom apartment and up to about $118,000 per two-bedroom apartment. To decrease the price, Tan Hoang Minh has made fundamental changes in the design.

Thanks to the small area, D’. El Dorado II apartments are only half the price of D’. Le Roi Soleil ones. Smaller apartments are the answer for young people. According to Duong Duc Hien, Director of Residential Sales of Savills Hanoi, without financial support from the family, it is quite difficult for customers under 35 years old to own a house.

"In fact, most of the young customers still cannot earn enough to buy houses in big cities. The price of a two-bedroom apartment in Hanoi ranges from about $131,000 to $263,000, nearly equal to developed markets. Meanwhile, the incomes of the Vietnamese have not reached that level yet," said Hien.

The design change is a part of the "revolution" that Do Anh Dung, Chairman of Tan Hoang Minh Group, pursued last year. Previous projects of Tan Hoang Minh often have a large area and are located in the centre of the city, hence being one of the most expensive in the market.

However, Tan Hoang Minh started a landmark change from D’. Capitale project when designing it in a more modern style. The smaller apartment area and more simple construction help reduce the price.

Thanks to this change, D’. Capitale has the best liquidity among Tan Hoang Minh's projects. So far, the project has reached 90 per cent of apartments, equivalent to 2,700 out of 3,000 apartments sold to customers.

The move of Tan Hoang Minh shows a new trend in real estate development: targeting at young customers.

Dual-key apartments

In fact, not only Tan Hoang Minh but some other investors are also adapting to this new demand.

Apart from luxury apartments with a small area, recently, many projects with dual-key or trio-key apartments such as the De La Sol project of CapitaLand in Ho Chi Minh city have appeared.

Unlike ordinary apartments, dual-key apartments still have common pathways but two keys into two separate kitchens. It is the solution for Vietnamese families that want to take care of their elderly parents living but still have private space.

Hotels: A workplace

Some real estate developers are also trying to erase the traditional thoughts about hotels. For example, Indochina Capital has established a joint venture with Vanguard Hotels to launch the Wink Hotels brand, which was designed specifically for young travellers.

One of the first changes Wink Hotels bring to the market is turning the Business Center of traditional hotels into a co-working space for young generations. Vanguard Hotels has signed with Toong to include co-working space in the first Wink hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.