The ‘land fever’ has been spreading rapidly across Da Nang over recent months as land prices have recently skyrocketed.

A boom in makeshift real estate transaction offices in the southern side of the Hoa Xuan residential area

At the Ngu Hanh Son District-located Nam Viet A urban area, the land prices rise every day.
“I bought a nearly 70m² land lot worth only 1.4 billion VND in January, and it is now valued at 2.7 billion VND”, said a resident living here.

Son Tra District, which has posted the fastest growth in hospitality services in Da Nang over recent years, is also experiencing the ongoing land price hikes.

Notably, as of late March, 180 million VND/m² had been set for land lots along popular Nguyen Van Thoai Street, 30 million VND higher than late last year.

In An Thuong residential quarter, the average price per m² now stands at 160 million VND.

Another ‘land fever’ hotspot which is attracting moneybags is the southern side of the Hoa Xuan residential area in Cam Le District with a boom in makeshift real estate transaction offices along internal road there.

Advertisements have filled the area, while brokers hand out leaflets on a daily basis.

For instance, the price of a 105 m² land lot along a 7.5m-wide internal road near the Trung Luong Bridge has now soared to over 2 billion VND.

“If you do not accept the price quoted today, it will be much higher when you come back in only a few days”, said a broker.

In reality, land across the city is being speculated as most of the land buyers are speculators, who purchase and do nothing but wait for a chance to resell the land plots in the hope of reaping the highest possible profits. The majority of them are from such big bubs as Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City. 

Many people have purchased land just for profit, not for residential purpose.

Over the past decade, only hundreds of houses have been built on thousands of purchased land lots at the southern end of the Nguyen Tri Phuong in Cam Le District.

The ‘land fever’ has been spreading rapidly across the dustricts of Son Tra and Ngu Hanh Son, plus the southern side of the Hoa Xuan residential area

Many real estate experts also attributed the high demand for land purchases to the city’s announcement of urban planning projects.

Against the backdrop of the ‘land fever,’ it is recommended that buyers should be cautious before opening their pockets, and sign deals with proper contracts to avoid pricing traps.

In some cases, the prices of some properties sold to end-users in some real estate projects are higher than the original rate. 

Many experts voiced their deep concern that the phenomenon of massive jump in prices may lead to the extremely high risk of a property bubble, as happened in 2008.

Property bubble typically follows a land boom which is the rapid increase in the market price of real property such as housing until they reach unsustainable levels and then decline.

The current situation can get out of control if relevant local agencies do not figure out promptly measures to manage the sale of land.

Late last year, the city branch of the Bank of State instructed commercial banks across the city to be more cautious in reviewing loan requests in the real estate and other high risk sectors in view of recent land price hikes.

Investors rely on bank loans, so tightened lending standards would prevent speculative investments into the real estate sector. If banks give out loans carelessly, it would be a huge problem when the market freezes.