Tin Tuc.eng

April 2008

If you’re feeling “stuck in a stagnant market,” take another look. You may not have noticed some of the newer office locations in the city which are increasing the level of choices for tenants. Do you need a small amount of office space in the Central Business District (CBD)? Empire Tower, a boutique office with a floor plate of 160sqm, has space available and is located on Ham Nghi in the heart of the CBD. Do you need a bigger floor plate but want to remain in D1? Golden Tower is pushing the boundary of the traditional CBD. Located near the Petro Vietnam Tower and Saigon Trade Center, it has a floor plate of 423sqm with exceptional quality fittings (double –glazing!). Do you need more parking and something with easier access than the CBD? Royal Centre, with a D.1 address on Nguyen Van Cu, sits at the epicenter of Districts 1, 3, 5 and 10. Access to Royal Centre is incredibly convenient for staff and customers. With two office towers, each with a floor plate of 716sqm, a shopping centre, and 10,000sqm of parking space(!), Royal Centre offers a full spectrum of benefits. The Office Towers will open in July 2008. Do you need a high quality office and high quality infrastructure at a bargain price? Corporate heavyweights, Manulife and Unilever did. They recently shifted from the CBD to Phu My Hung in D.7, which is also the home of Saigon Paragon. Saigon Paragon is a mixed use development of high end office and retail space. Saigon Paragon will tempt more businesses from the CBD to “make the move” as it can offer a high quality floor plate of over 2,000sqm at a far cheaper rate. It may be happening slowly but, undeniably, HCMC’s office market has started an exciting transformation with options to meet all needs. Call us now to arrange a viewing of any of these new offices.

Royal Centre offers an exciting, affordable shopping center of 12,000sqm, spread over 4 floors, that has been built for the new generation of upwardly mobile consumers. Located just 10 minutes from the heart of the city, Royal Centre sits regally at the epicenter of Districts 1, 3, 5 and 10. department It is located on the tree-lined Nguyen Cu Boulevardin whose four wide for lanes project ensure easy The retail consultancy has seen anVanincrease demand access to the shopping centre, which boasts 10,000sqm of parking space. Royal Centre’s Shopping Center will open in Q3 of specific retail consultancy services. It is important to understand in the early 2008. With two office towers opening in July 2008 and a five star hotel and serviced apartments scheduled to open in mid stages of the retail development (or ideally before the start of the develop2011, Royal Centre will offers something for everyone.

The retail consultancy department has seen an increase in demand for project specific retail consultancy services. It is important to understand in the early stages of the retail development (or ideally before the start of the development) how the retail scheme should be developed to match the current and future demand. A typical scope of work often includes: market analysis, competition analysis, determining the optimum scale of the centre, design review, layout planning, rental schemes, catchment area calculations, and tenant mix recommendations. Recently, CBRE has successfully concluded the retail consultancy for Saigon Palace, a shopping centre which is due for completion at the end of 2008. It is expected to open in Q1 of 2009, and will add approximately 30,000 GFA to the market. Furthermore, CBRE’s retail consultancy for Royal Centre on Nguyen Van Cu Street is well on the way.

For Office, Retail Services and Residential Leasing

April 2008

As exclusive leasing agents for Sherwood Residence, we are pleased to announce the release of 20 additional 3-bedroom units for immediate lease. These added units have preferred layouts and generous bedroom sizes. The availability of 5-star hotel standard facilities, including a swimming pool, gymnasium, mini cinema and children’s playground, makes your life at Sherwood Residence one of relaxed luxury. With the network of serviced apartments, condominiums and villas that our team has built, in the finest neighborhoods of Ho Chi Minh City, you have a wide home selection; Villa Riviera, Phu Gia Villas, The Lancaster, The Manor, Spring Court, May Apartments, HAD Apartments and many more. Please call our Residential Leasing hotline for more information at 0903028715 or 8239886.

Due to the State Bank of Vietnam’s recent instructions to all local banks to increase their cash reserves and to increase the cost of borrowing across the board, there has been a slowdown in the ad hoc market, with many new listings becoming available in the marketplace. The Government is committed to reign in credit growth and inflation for the future long term benefit of the country. However, well located projects offering high standards of living are selling well particularly to the high-end local Vietnamese. Recent launches of The Montgomerie Links Estates in Danang and Cantavil Hoan Cau projects have sold well. We expect this trend to continue over the medium term as there is a distinct lack of supply in the marketplace which will not change into the foreseeable future, and fundamental demand is still evident.

CBRE Asset Services enters the second quarter of 2008 in excellent form with several new properties coming under management by the CBRE Team. At present, our portfolio contains serviced apartments, single and multi-tenant offices, and retail and condominium properties. The department has several key properties coming on-line and opening for business: The Golden Tower management team is on site and will be opening their office building this quarter, while the Empire Tower team has been on site for several months, implementing high CBRE standards in its top quality office building. In addition, the management staff is onsite at Saigon Paragon to direct the initial operational management to ensure that it will become one of the most exciting properties in Saigon South. Business will continue to increase as more developers see the value in working with the CBRE Asset Services team, which will aid clients through increased revenues, decreased costs, and improved efficiencies.

Chris Gunn

T: 848 824 6125

M: 84 903 027 633

E: [email protected]

Inflationary pressures and the credit crunch has burdened many, especially the expatriate community. Many foreigners are having

a difficult time looking for residence in HCMC because serviced apartments show an average occupancy rate of 97% and only 2,600 serviced apartment units are coming to the market in the next five years. The CBRE Team is experiencing the residential leasing crunch, evident in the quadrupled rents for private properties in prime locations, thus creating more difficulties for companies and individuals with housing needs. Be prepared to view multiple properties before you find one that is suitable for habitation and within your budget. Looking at alternative areas outside of D1 may be a better approach, due to a limited supply of homes. Condominium projects have been the playground for speculators, but shrewd investors that have acquired multiple units with long-term objectives will start seeing the benefits of their long-term thinking as opposed to the short term greed.

Regionally, the Southern Key Economic Region (SKER) continues to draw the most industrial investment interest due to its more advanced infrastructure, while the Northern Key Economic Region (NKER) and the Central Key Economic Region (CKER) are quickly beginning to gain popularity. In all areas, the urban plans call for industrial sectors to continue to move or expand into the bordering provinces, and many developers are investing in these areas by creating integrated industrial parks utilizing the township concept. Current heavy demand for Ready Built Factories cannot be met by the current stock, though an increase is on the horizon within the new industrial parks set to come on line in the latter half of 2008. As the Vietnamese government continues to place an emphasis on technology development, high-tech and bio-tech parks are the wave of the future.

David Neal

T: 848 824 6125

M: 84 903 028 719

E: [email protected]

April 2008

April 2008

In the first quarter of 2008, Viet Tower and Asia Tower were the only new office buildings to enter the market, and were quickly occupied 100% before opening. Viet Tower remains to be the hottest building, hosting four big tenants: Honda, Ericsson, VIB Bank, and Great Eastern Life. The market remains thirsty for grade A and B offices. Office buildings in the My Dinh area, such as The Manor and CEO Tower, continue to attract more tenants since these offer slightly lower rents and more options regarding unit size. If location is still a priority, ad-hoc buildings are always an option. To ensure maximum long-term value, landlords must be proactive in the design and solution for tenant parking as car usage grows in the city. John Gallander

T: 844 220 0220

M: 84 917 294834

E:[email protected]

Nobody expected such great success, but CBRE was the proud officiant in creating a 20 year partnership between two very important figures, Parkson and VIET Tower, as Parkson recently opened its first department store in Hanoi with 11,000sqm GFA in VIET Tower. The opening of Parkson created a traffic jam, as most of the trendy community of Hanoi wanted to congratulate the union between the two new partners. This new one-stop-shopping and meeting place for middle-upper class Hanoians is located on the corner of Thai Ha and Tay Son Street. Although new, occupancy at Parkson was100% full months before opening, meaning the retail space shortage is still a current issue. Significant new supply of retail space is not expected until mid 2009 and 2010.

March seems to be the season of moving as the new lunar year begins, particularly for those coming from Japan as this is the closing time of their 2007 Financial Year. Serviced apartments are particularly high in demand, especially one bedroom spaces with rents at about $1,000 - $1,500 per month. In general, Grade A Serviced Apartments are rented at a price of $36 - $42sqm per month, which has increased from the prior year at this time. With stock limited, lessees and owners struggle to agree on equitable pricing, leaving many on both sides frustrated. However, there is still hope on the horizon. With Fraser gradually releasing more units for lease and the expectation of Skyline opening in early Q2, lessees may perceive these new signals as an optimistic indication for supply and rental in the market.

Giang Farias

T: 844 220 0220

M: 84 904148822

E: [email protected]

April 2008

RESIDENTIAL PROJECT MARKETING As a reaction to the current economic situation, the government is planning to release a new decree, which is aimed at enhancing the demand in the property market by foreigners. However, the recent fluctuations in the currency have led to postponements of all transactions in the Vietnamese market. The decrease in the US dollar, the reduction in Vietnamese dong as well as the high inflation rate, have all affected the buyers and the real estate market in general. Nevertheless, high-end condominium projects are not affected by these factors. This is an indicator of stability in the current real estate market. There is a strong demand exceeding the supply of condominiums, such as the Hanoi Complex (Lieu Giai and Dao Tan street) and Vincom 2 (114, Mai Hac De Street), which are under piling construction. In Kim Lien, there are two new buildings with 214 apartments (from 53m2 to 100m2) planned to serve this demand. The B4-B14 Kim Lien (Trung Tu) buildings are under construction as well. The B4 is a complex consisting of two towers, one of which is 21 floors and the other 14 floors. The B14 is also a two tower complex with towers having 14 - 17 floors. INCOMEX is planning to finish the concepts, including destruction and construction work, by 2009. These projects will provide solutions to the problem of high demand for condominiums.

Long Vuong

T: 844 220 0220

M: 84 904 000404

E: [email protected]

Upward fluctuations in land prices, the stock market downturn, macroeconomic factors such as inflation and contractionary monetary policies, and proposals and changes in regulations, such as mortgage controls and the progressive tax on real estate, are the most current significant events affecting the real estate market. Despite market risk, the vertical progress of new construction is moving forward. Keangnam Landmark Tower, Hanoi City Complex (formerly The Landmark), The Garden, Ciputra Mall, and Crown Complex are well underway and will be completed in 2009-2010. While Korea, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan continue to dominate developments, a recent surge in interest has come from new sources. Developers and investors from Switzerland, the US, the Middle East, and China are starting major projects. As the source of foreign investment continues to diversify, total capital commitment will create an upward trend. Beyond the increasing foreign investment, local companies in other industries (petroleum, telecommunication, insurance, construction, manufacturing, and power) are expanding their investment portfolio by including real estate. Many of these state-owned companies with prime real estate, while ambitious, lack development expertise.

Renato Shordon

Hot hot hot! After the opening of the first Parkson department store in Hanoi, a strong determination and relationship has resulted between CBRE and Parkson, evident in the letter of intention signed for Parkson’s 2nd site, a new complex project of 60,000sqm retail space located behind the well known Big C location in Hanoi. The TD group, the developer of the Parkson project, is scheduling the ground breaking ceremony for Q2 of 2008. CBRE will continue to search for several new locations this year. Stay tuned, we’ll let you know what is the next hot location.

More investment funds are starting up in Viet Nam these days with the focus on the country’s real estate market, a «hot sector» with a high return on investment. Both Vinacapital and Indochina Capital have thriving land funds, which have perhaps boosted investor confidence. Many factors continue to drive the price of land upwards, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. In some areas of Hanoi, the price has reached USD$10,000 per sqm and higher due to the limited supply. Since the real estate supply and demand is not balanced as of yet, investment opportunities will continue to rise with no foreseeable end in site. The challenge for the CBRE Investment Services Team is finding good sites with reasonable prices for their foreign partners, and finding reliable investors for their local partners. Fortunately, we have the expertise and experience to match the best parties to the new developments.

Thuy Ledoux

T : 844 220 0220

M: 84 917 294824

E: [email protected]