Vietnam's shop space on sale at $173,000 per square metre
HANOI - Communist-run Vietnam might be one of the world's poorest economies but its land prices could exceed some of the highest.
The price of shop space in Ben Thanh market in the heart of the country's trade hub, Ho Chi Minh City, has jumped 40 percent in two years to 230 taels of gold per square metre, or $173,000 (91,000 pounds), and finding an available plot is not easy, the city tax office said.
That price easily outstrips the world's currently most valuable stretch of land in Tokyo's shopping district Ginza which sells for around $130,000 per square metre.
The tiny shops, around 1.5 square metre each, in the Ben Thanh market, which was built by the French colonial government in 1899, sell locally-made garments, shoes, spices and souvenirs to foreign tourists.
Property prices in the Southeast Asian country have jumped around 30 to 40 percent in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in the past three years, as well-heeled families from provinces migrate to urban centres and traders compete for a limited supply of shop spaces.
Despite an annual per capita income of just around $640, developers said condominiums with two or three bed rooms are still retailed for around $100,000 per unit.
The boom began in the late 1990's, driven principally by Vietnam's transition from a centrally-planned to a market economy and a fast-growing flow of foreign investment that has fuelled economic growth of 7-8 percent a year.
Reuters - August 30, 2006.
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