I just went back to Vietnam early this May (as I do at least once a year since 1992); my excuses: My 93-year old dad lives there and, I am a CIPS.

On my trip in December 2006, my brother and I made a deposit to buy a condo at this River Garden high-rise project located just minutes from downtown Saigon. The unit is situated on the 8th floor with 4 bedrooms and two baths. We paid $179,400 for this 156-square meter condo (about 1,678 sq.ft.). Actually, we are only making payments according to the construction phases.

The delivery was estimated at the later part of 2008, but as you can see from the photo I took here on May 13, the building is way far from completion. We hope to have occupancy and a family reunion by the end of 2010.

For the last couple of years, the high-rise residential market was hot. Lots of speculators - some made good money while others, with bad timing, lost their shirts. The fever is over and the low-end and middle price range residential high-rise market is now cold. I am thinking of certain California residential markets as comparisons.

We are lucky, or so we say. We bought ours at the right time and our project is a high-end development. We only made two installments so far, and according to local agents we talked to, we probably can sell ours for $1,800 USD per square meter (we paid $1,150).

Over all, the Vietnamese real estate market is booming; not the low-end residential high-rise, of course. We flew to Hanoi, drove to several provinces in the North and construction was going on everywhere, especially with the office and industrial sectors. By the way, in Saigon, there is virtually no class A office vacancy. Class B buildings are at 95-99% occupancy.

I will write more about what I know of this emerging market if there is enough interest.