By January 2010, Khanh Hoa Province had 406 hotels, resorts, restaurants, and residences, including Nha Trang making up 95. The city now has 3 five-star hotels, 5 four-star hotels, and 12 three-star hotels with a total 2.451 rooms.

From December 2009 to early January 2010, almost all hotels pushed prices by 20-30%. Prices of five-star hotels are twofold higher than four-star hotels and six-fold higher than three-star hotels. Almost all hotels nearly reached 90% at occupancy by the end of 2010 when the lunar new year (Tet holiday) concurred.

Currently, there are four more projects under construction, including Spring Hotel, Sea and Sun Hotel, Lam My Hotel, and Nha Trang Palace Hotel. With this, Nha Trang will have nearly 18 new hotel projects in the near future. Constructions of nearly 70% of these projects has begun. Savills said that Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel and Spa and Spring Hotel will soon come into operation. Almost all of 18 projects locate along Tran Phu Street and only three projects are in the suburb and two others are on islands.

The central coastal city of Nha Trang. Photo: Internet

Together with the hotel market, within 2 to 5 years to come, the Nha Trang retail market will develop but will see no remarkable changes. The Nha Trang Shopping Centre project on Tran Phu Street is expected to be completed and to be operational in 2010. The second Nha Trang Maximark Trade Centre came into operation with a total site of nearly 15,000 square meters. Currently, two Maximark supermarkets and Vinpearl Shopping Street are three modern retail hubs in Nha Trang with a total site of nearly 23,000 square meters.

Apartments make up 80% of supply

Savills’ survey reported that the Nha Trang real estate market saw no changes in the supplying source over the past three years. Only the Vinh Hoa residential area sold the last two apartments and was in the sold-out projects list.

The 100% sold-out projects in Nha Trang have average prices of USD631 a square meter for villa or attached house, USD554 a square meter for apartment, and USD365 a square meter for land. Apartments for sale account for nearly 80% with 11 projects. Specifically, the land market has had 318 more lands from the Vinh Hoa residential area project.

Almost all project of the secondary market are around the city precincts. Apartment block projects gather in the centre of Nha Trang, accounting for more than 50% of total apartments on the secondary market.

Statistics showed housing area growth rate in Khanh Hoa reaches 100,000 square meters annually while total housing areas in the province are 3.7 million square meters, including 2.6 million square meters in Nha Trang. This means that the supplying is not in accordance with the demand. Other statistics showed 400,000 people live in urban areas in Khanh Hoa, or average living area is 9.2 square meters a people.

Savills forecasts 31 more projects will be released to the market in the few coming years. Because of limited area in the city, potential projects in Nha Trang will be moved to the north, south, and west. Big projects in Vinh Thai and Phuoc Hai precincts are to the west of Nha Trang and make up more than 50% of the total future projects.

Currently, Nha Trang only has three buildings for lease which provide nearly 5,275 square meters to the market. Average lease price is around USD13 a square meter monthly, excluding value-added tax. Room lease capacity decreased to 79% in February 2010, much lower than 91% in November 2009.

Nha Trang now has two building projects for the near future, including 26 Thai Nguyen Building and Lighthouse Complex Tower Nha Trang.

(Source: VNEconomy)