Vietnamese dong becomes quotable figure

HCM City (VNA) - After a long period of quoting land and house prices in gold, landlords are now setting prices in Vietnamese dong in order to avoid the abnormal fluctuations in gold market, according to several HCM City-based real estate companies.

The number of people selling houses in Vietnamese dong has increased from 30
percent to 50 percent in recent months, said Pham Van Hai, general director
of ACB Real Estate Company.

Most property project investors currently offer their apartment or land
prices in dong, he added.

In house sale ads on the website of the Sai Gon Thuong Tin Real Estate
Company (Sacomreal) prices are all set in dong, said Bui Tien Thang, deputy
general director of Sacomreal.

It is often complicated to quoted prices and conclude transactions with
payment in gold for both buyers and sellers. When the gold price increases,
buyers hesitate to buy real estate, and when the gold price decreases,
sellers do not want to sell, according to Eden Real Estate Company.

In some instances, after a night of fluctuations in the price of gold, the
price of a house goes up or down by hundreds of millions of dong. This can
lead to one of the parties suspending the deal, despite the fact that the
buyer and seller may have already agreed on a price beforehand, he added.

Thang also noted that concluding a transaction in dong is becoming more
convenient than in gold because payment in dong can be done via the banking
systems.-Enditem