Smart townships gaining popularity in Vietnam

According to property and investment management services firm JLL, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have one of the youngest, most tech savvy populations globally. The country’s population is young with 70 per cent of its citizens below the age of 35 while highly literate with a 98.5 per cent literacy rate among those aged 15 to 35.

The Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study found that 84 per cent of Vietnamese respondents shop online at least once a month, trailing closely behind Thailand at 85 per cent. Developers of new residential projects are leveraging on this trend and building smart townships to attract young buyers.

As a pioneer in this revolution, local property developer Sunshine Group, has built a series of smart homes and smart living ecosystem by applying integrated smart technology into their products. It features Sunshine Cab App similar to the Grab system to serve their residents, Smart Home App and Sunshine Mart that offers cashless payment through Sunshine Online service. The overall aim is to provide homeowners an intelligent and high–tech urban complex that focuses on transportation, shopping and relaxation services.

Vingroup, the biggest local real estate developer in Vietnam, upgraded their 280-hectare large-scale project into a dynamic smart township named Vinhomes Smart City in the West of Hanoi in early April this year. The project uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology with facial recognition features and a single command centre to provide a full suite of information services for occupants, from air quality monitoring to environmental pollution warnings.

The smart townships launched by developers have achieved high sale rates. Since it first launch in 2016, the Hanoi property market has welcomed more than 10,000 smart units with the sale rate of approximately 70 per cent on an average.

JLL thus expects more smart township projects to come to the market in the near term. These include BRG Smart City in Hanoi, Ecopark Smart City in Hung Yen province, Dragon Smart City in Danang and Thu Thiem Eco Smart City in Ho Chi Minh City. These projects promise all types of convenience: smart landscape planning with advanced IT infrastructure to build a smart and eco – friendly neighborhood where residents can enjoy integrated services within a walkable distance.

Undeniably, smart townships are gaining significant popularity that has directly led to a series of changes in the Vietnam property market. While it could be a good option for investors and individual buyers, the latter should be aware that different developers are providing different technology solutions to varying degree. Furthermore, technology that is not pragmatic and does not enhance efficiency or livability for users may not take off.

“The Vietnamese property market is starting its journey where both public and private sectors are changing the urban landscape to incorporate technology that could enhance the living environment. We expect that for future real estate developments, “stay smart” will not just be a trend but also a “must-have”. The adoption of new technology platforms generates new and more easily-accessible market data, which is key for overall real estate transparency in Vietnam,” noted JLL.