Residential Mobility, Housing Choice, and Price Determinants in Transitional Vietnam : The Case of Ho Chi Minh City

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Vietnam is a transitional country in Asia that has demonstrated remarkable economic growth since the Doi Moi policy was enacted in 1986. As a result of its economic achievements during the last few decades, rapid population increase and urbanization of metropolitan cities have provoked a housing shortage and the degradation of housing conditions. The main purpose of this study is to understand residential mobility, housing choice, and the determinants of housing prices in Ho Chi Minh City, with the aim of establishing recommendations for sustainable housing development in Vietnam. For the empirical part of this study, citizen questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted in Ho Chi Minh City, property information was collected, and extensive analyses were carried out using independent tests and hedonic regression modeling. This study mainly constitutes three parts; the study’s results and findings are summarized below.

The first part of the study is an analysis of housing choice and the determinants of voluntary movement within a market-driven framework. For an empirical study, a citizen questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews were conducted in Ho Chi Minh City, and analyses were carried out. The results indicate that row houses of single-family housing were strongly preferred, but the preference for apartments is also increasing with residential mobility. The popularity of row houses is closely associated with environmental adaptability and spatial flexibility of these mixed-use buildings, which demonstrates Vietnam’s innate housing context. However, road conditions and commuting environments resulting from narrow inner roads in the predominantly self-built districts of Ho Chi Minh City were major drawbacks leading to limited accessibility by car and public transportation, and an increase in the crime vulnerability of these neighborhoods. Apartments with multi-family housing attract residents with their accessibility to main roads, spacious parking and open spaces, and community facilities. The row house choice was closely associated with life cycle, while behavioral approaches and apartment choice were influenced by environmental and institutional factors.

As a further extension, in the second part of the study, the price determinants of apartments were investigated to ascertain whether the reasons for residential mobility were reflected in the price determinants of housing. This study was conducted in an affordability framework of the apartment market of Ho Chi Minh City using the hedonic price model. The results identified common factors for both affordable and unaffordable apartments, such as vertical shared access and proximity to the center of the city. For affordable apartments, housing and location attributes, which are more interrelated with the effects of urbanization, were observed to affect the price, whereas prices of unaffordable apartments were affected by community facilities and quality of life environmental aspects such as swimming pools, mixed-use development, lower-density neighborhoods, and proximity to rivers and international schools. This study also demonstrates that the reasons for moving voluntarily were based on the price determinants of housing in Ho Chi Minh City.

The third part of the study is an investigation into residential mobility and housing choice from involuntary movement, specifically observing state-driven urban renewal projects. A rapid increase in the population of metropolitan cities provoked a housing shortage and the degradation of housing conditions, and so slums have become widespread in Ho Chi Minh City. Although the city announced slum renewal plans along with resident resettlement, particularly for the slums alongside the rivers, a slum deficiency survey and subsequent analysis are imperative to achieve sustainable slum redevelopment and successful resettlement of the residents. Through site observations and door-to-door interviews within District 8 (Ward 14), one of the worst slums in Ho Chi Minh City where many people have settled since the Doi Moi, I noticed that the conditions of riverfront slums were inferior to inner block areas in terms of housing quality, infrastructure, and property ownership. In particular, the lack of property ownership was a critical factor in resettlement choice; most residents who did not own property preferred in-situ slum upgrading or “site-and-service” relocation, which includes better housing quality and legal tenure. Other dwellers who obtained property ownership preferred cash compensation with self-relocation. Furthermore, the preferable housing type in resettlement was a row house that enabled property ownership and microbusiness operation. Institutional and behavioral influences of residential mobility can be observed here.

In conclusion, residential mobility and housing choice diverge with the varying contexts of a transitional country as Vietnam urbanizes and economic growth develops from a transition economy utilizing market mechanisms. The transition to property privatization significantly affects residential mobility, and there are implications for this study. As the ownership of land and housing is an exemplary right of a capitalist society representing a domain of wealth and power, Vietnam requires a stable balance of transition economics and institutional environments for property rights. Although the current flexible institutional framework can generate efficient productivity in the early stages of the transition period, it cannot be a model for sustainable socio-economic and urban growth. Flexibility can weaken the government’s management and monitoring system of individual property rights and can cause inequitable socio-spatial distribution with polarization of housing status. This transition does not symbolize flexibility; rather, it can be understood as development in progress.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Abstract i
• Publication Notice iv
• List of Tables viii
• List of Figures ix
• 1. Introduction 1
• 1.1. Background of Study 1
• 1.2. Purpose of Study 3
• 1.3. Scope of Study 4
• 1.3.1. Field of Study 4
• 1.3.2. Study Area 5
• 1.3.3. Time Period 7
• 1.4. Research Questions 8
• 1.5. Research Framework 9
• 2. Theoretical Review 11
• 2.1. Residential Mobility 11
• 2.1.1. Theoretical Development of Residential Mobility 11
• 2.1.2. Approaches to Residential Mobility 15
• 2.1.2.1. The Life Course Approach 16
• 2.1.2.2. The Behavioral Approach 17
• 2.1.2.3. The Environmental Approach 18
• 2.1.2.4. The Institutional Approach 19
• 2.1.3. Housing Choice and Residential Mobility 20
• 2.1.4. Residential Mobility in Developing Countries 22
• 2.1.4.1. Theoretical Models 22
• 2.1.4.2. Residential Mobility in China 24
• 2.1.4.3. Residential Mobility in Vietnam 26
• 2.2. Price Determinants 31
• 2.2.1. Theoretical Basis of Price Determinants 31
• 2.2.2. Hedonic Function Specifications 32
• 2.2.3. Attributes of Properties 35
• 2.2.4. Literature Review of Developing Countries 38
• 2.2.4.1. Price Determinants of Housing in Southeast Asia and China 38
• 2.2.4.2. Price Determinants of Housing in Vietnam 39
• 3. Urbanization and Housing Development in Vietnam 41
• 3.1. Socio-Economic Change 41
• 3.1.1. Doi Moi Economic Reform 41
• 3.1.2. Economic Growth 42
• 3.1.3. Rapid Urbanization and Housing Shortages 43
• 3.1.4. Institutional Changes in Land and Housing Policies 46
• 3.2. Housing Development in Vietnam 49
• 3.2.1. Classification of Housing Typology 49
• 3.2.1.1. Official Categories from the Vietnamese Housing Census 49
• 3.2.1.2. Housing Typology by Other Sectors 50
• 3.2.1.3. Housing Typology in This Study 53
• 3.2.2. Slum Upgrading Programs 54
• 3.2.3. Self-Built Housing 55
• 3.2.4. Apartment Development 56
• 3.3. Urban Growth of Ho Chi Minh City 58
• 3.3.1. The Epicenter of Urban Development 58
• 3.3.2. Population Growth and Housing Shortages 60
• 3.3.3. Widespread Slum Settlements 61
• 3.3.4. Predominant Self-Built Row House Development 64
• 3.3.5. Apartment Development Boom 67
• 4. Voluntary Residential Mobility and Housing Choice in HCMC 70
• 4.1. Introduction 70
• 4.2. Research Methods 71
• 4.2.1. Sampling Area 71
• 4.2.2. Preliminary Interviews 72
• 4.2.3. Questionnaire Design and Survey 73
• 4.2.4. In-depth Interviews 75
• 4.3. Results and Findings 75
• 4.3.1. Predominant Single-family Housing 75
• 4.3.2. Significant Factors of Current Housing 76
• 4.3.3. Housing Choices and Movement Patterns 78
• 4.3.4. In-depth Interviews for Housing Choices 81
• 4.3.4.1. Row House Choice 81
• 4.3.4.2. Apartment Choice 84
• 4.4. Discussions 85
• 4.4.1. Advantages of Row Houses 85
• 4.4.2. Drawbacks of Row Houses 86
• 4.4.3. Increasing Popularity of Apartments 89
• 4.5. Conclusion 91
• 5. Price Determinants of Apartments in HCMC 94
• 5.1. Introduction 94
• 5.2. Research Methods 97
• 5.2.1. Data Collection 97
• 5.2.2. Identification of Affordable Housing 97
• 5.2.3. Variables for Hedonic Regression Model 98
• 5.3. Results and Findings 100
• 5.3.1. Descriptive Statistics 100
• 5.3.2. Regression Results 101
• 5.4. Discussions 102
• 5.4.1. Common Price Determinants 102
• 5.4.2. Unique Price Determinants of Affordable Apartments 104
• 5.4.3. Unique Price Determinants of Unaffordable Apartments 106
• 5.5. Conclusions 107
• 6. Involuntary Residential Mobility and Resettlement in HCMC 111
• 6.1. Introduction 111
• 6.2. Research Methods 113
• 6.2.1. Site Selection 113
• 6.2.2. Field Research, Surveys, and Interviews 114
• 6.3. Results and Findings 116
• 6.3.1. Inferior Housing Conditions of Waterfront Areas 116
• 6.3.2. Settlement Formation in the Waterfront Areas after the Doi Moi 118
• 6.3.3. Housing-based Relocation and Cash-based Relocation 119
• 6.3.4. Legal Property Ownership and Relocation Option Preferences 120
• 6.3.5. Predominant Preference for Row Houses 122
• 6.4. Discussions 124
• 6.5. Conclusions 125
• 7. Conclusions 127
• 7.1. Study Summary 127
• 7.2. Implications 129
• Bibliography 131
• Appendices 145
• Abstract in Korean 147