THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF PRIVATE APARTMENT PRICES IN HO CHI MINH CITY

Abstract

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), the economic leader in Vietnam, is involving in the urban restructuring process and observing boom in the private apartment market thanks to doi moi (renovation). The author examines the spatial pattern of price distribution and assesses determinants of price in the newly emerging private apartment market in the context of transitional economy in HCMC. Database of HCMC's private apartment market was established using ArcGIS package. Apartments' information was gathered from the August 2006 report of CB Richard Ellis Vietnam, developers' advertisements and the author's personal visits to show Hats. In addition to the Triangular Irregular Networks (TINs) and choropleth maps, curve estimation statistics of the whole dataset as well as six separate zones were performed to explore the spatial structure. The hedonic price model and spatial regression were used to assess the determinants of price. The findings reveal that the spatial pattern of apartment price in HCMC does not follow the monocentric model. Rather, it sees tremendous variations throughout the city. Interestingly, the price-distance relationship was found weak, which implies the significant influence of structural, neighbourhood and other locational factors on apartment price. Particularly, the study found developer's reputation, apartment's age, availability of swimming pool and gymnasium, district's educational level, distance to the urban centres highly significant in shaping apartment price. The findings contribute to the limited literature on the metropolitan spatial structure and apartment market in HCMC.