Hanoi (VNA) - ‘Smart homes’ arebecoming a new trend in Vietnam’s housing market, however experts say thatstandards for ‘smart’ projects are needed.
Without standards, some worry that developerswill advertise their projects as ‘smart’ to attract buyers and raise prices.
According to Nguyen Van Hau, general director ofreal estate firm Asian Holding, developers are applying technologies inbuilding management like magnetic cards for elevator control and air-conditioningand door control via smart phone.
Hau said that most of the popular ‘smart home’technologies in Vietnam remained simple, adding that ‘smart homes’ should bemore than that.
Advertising housing projects as ‘smart’ could bea way for developers to increase prices, Hau said.
He added that there is still no agency ororganisation in charge of evaluating the efficiency of ‘smart home’technologies.
Vo Huynh Tuan Kiet from property services firmCBRE Vietnam said that the ‘smart’ factor in Vietnam’s housing market remainedsimple.
Kiet said that ‘smart homes’ would needintegrated solutions to optimise usage, such as promoting energy saving andrecycling waste, adding that those mechanisms are still rare in Vietnam.
"Smart projects also need smart transportconnectivity," Kiệt added.
According to Pham Lam, general director of realestate consultancy firm DKRA Vietnam, due to the lack of standards for ‘smarthomes’, many buyers were disappointed about their new homes because the qualityand convenience were not as advertised.
Lam said that standards for ‘smart homes’ shouldalso include energy management systems, smart operation systems, securitysystems, connectivity and information security.
Le Hoang Chau, president of HCM City Real EstateAssociation, said many property developers are advertising their projects ashigh-end or luxury but their quality is not up to scratch.
Now, the property market is seeing more projectsadvertised as ‘smart’, Chau said.
In November 2018, the association proposed tothe management agencies to tighten quality control on housing projects toprevent developers from exaggerating the features of their projects to increaseprices.
According to the statistics portal Statista,revenue in Vietnam’s ‘smart home’ market is anticipated to amount to 83 millionUSD in 2019 with an annual growth rate anticipated at 51.7 percent in2019-23.
Market volume was forecast to reach 437 millionUSD by 2023. Household penetration is 1.2 percent in 2019 and expected to hit7.8 percent by 2023. -VNA