First Look at The 9 Stellars Project Will Interest You

The 9 Stellars is a new launch housing project adjacent to HCMC’s New Eastern Bus Station in Thu Duc City. It is regarded as a “mini-township” integrated with schools, housing and commercial spaces. Foremostly, the project is envisioned along 3 concepts: shopping and entertainment centre, smart urban area and transit-oriented development. Firstly, as a mix-development the project has allocated significant retail space aimed to be the neighbourhood’s trendiest commercial complex. Secondly, the project will integrate and utilise technology application to its urban infrastructure. Thirdly, good internal and external connectivity is focused upon to enhance liveability of the project area.

▸ 1. What is the project overview of The 9 Stellars?

The 9 Stellars is situated in Thu Duc City (formerly District 9) Long Binh Ward Ho Chi Minh City. In fact, the project sits on a land site of 16.5 hectares fronting Hoang Huu Nam Street to its North-west and a 4-hectare lake to its East. Importantly, the project can be accessed from 2 main directions, a turn in from National Route 1A or via Nguyen Xien Street. 

In the first place, The 9 Stellars is invested by Ngan Thanh Joint-Stock Company and developed by SonKim Land. Additionally, the developer has put together a proven development team to execute the project. NQH Architects will be designing The 9 Stellars together with landscapers Sculptor Studio, engineers ICIC and interior designers ADA.

More importantly, The 9 Stellars is within walking distance to the last train station on HCMC’s Metro Line 1. Note that the train station is on the same side of National Route 1A as the project. Hence, future residents of the project do not need to cross a major roadway in order to use HCMC’s very first mass rapid transit.

With approximately 14 apartment towers of up 21 floors each with 2 basements, The 9 Stellars is expected to supply over 6,000 apartments and 150 townhouses. Importantly, ownership will be on a freehold basis for local Vietnamese and 50-years leasehold for foreigners. In addition, commercial products such as shophouses will be made available for sale.

Launched in the second quarter of 2021, phase 1 of The 9 Stellars consists of potentially 216 apartments and 79 townhouses on a land plot of 4.5-hectares. Importantly, phase 1 occupies the southern portion of the project land area and is by the lakefront. Besides, phase 1 ground breaking is scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of 2021.  

Concept drawing of The 9 Stellars project urban area.

▸ 2. Where is the location of The 9 Stellars?

The location of The 9 Stellars is just off National Route 1A about 500-meters from its junction with Hoang Huu Nam Street. Also, 3-kilometers from Hoang Huu Nam-Le Van Viet-Nguyen Van Tang junction. And 4.5-kilometers from Hanoi Highway-National Route 1A Overpass.

Of more importance is that The 9 Stellars is a short 500-meters from the Metro Station of the New Eastern Bus Station. Future residents can expect to easily commute via metro into downtown HCMC. More exactly, access of the central business district, Thao Dien-An Phu developed neighbourhood, Landmark 81 Tower will be a matter of minutes. Consider this, commuting downtown in comfort on an air-conditioned metro carriage, avoiding traffic jams, and cutting down on travelling expense. 

Furthermore, the project is sandwiched between 2 innovation hotspots that will lead the development of Thu Duc City. Firstly, it is 3-kilometers from the Edutech Hub situated at HCMC’s University Village to the project’s east. And secondly, it is 7-kilometers from the Automated Manufacturing Hub situated at Saigon Hi-tech Park.

Last but not lease, The 9 Stellars has ease of connectivity to other important key neighbourhoods and landmarks. Some prominent examples include:

• Thu Thiem Fintech Hub via the Hanoi Highway.
• Rach Chiec Sports and Wellness Hub via the Hanoi Highway.
• Truong Tho Future Hub via the Hanoi Highway.
• Long Thanh International Airport via National Route 51.
• Vinhomes Grand Park via Nguyen Xien Street.
• District 7 via Vo Chi Cong Street-Phu My Bridge

The 9 Stellars project location map.

▸ 3. Who is the developer of The 9 Stellars?

SonKim Land Corporation was established in 1993 as a subsidiary of SonKim Group as it expanded into real estate. From the onset, the company seeks out strategic partners with global industry leaders like HongKong Land, Hamon Developments and Bankinvest. And is now a leading real estate developer in HCMC Vietnam specialising in 3 key sectors. Namely residential, hospitality and commercial offices.

The vision of SonKim Land is to harness light and space to build truly transformational homes, retail environments and office spaces. Together with a mission to grow by developing outstanding teams, working with the best partners from around the world. And creating world-class living and working spaces for a high-end clientele.

Till date SonKim Land has a proven portfolio of residential real estate projects in prominent locations within HCMC. While some are still in various stages of development, most of its projects had been completed. Such a list includes the following:

• Gateway Thao Dien in Thu Duc City (formerly District 2) – Resort inspired living 
• The Nassim in Thu Duc City (formerly District 2) – Luxury is privacy
• Serenity Sky Villas – The limited-edition residence
• The Metropole Thu Thiem, the Galleria Residence – Your living masterpiece
• The Metropole Thu Thiem, the Crest Residence – Live tomorrow today
• The Metropole Thu Thiem, the Opera Residence – First masterpiece

▸ 4. What do The 9 Stellars facilities include?

Since The 9 Stellars project occupy a sizeable land area, residents can look forward to a comprehensive list of facilities. First off, the podiums under the apartment towers will consist of retail corridors and alfresco cafes. Secondly, attention will be given to green landscapes such as multi-purpose open lawns for picnics/actvities, relaxation garden, and private garden areas. Thirdly, apart from just a swimming pool the area will also consist of a pool deck, sunken lounges, jacuzzi and shallow. Additionally, to cater to families with children, there will be a kid’s pool with waterfall and children playground.

Facilities of The 9 Stellars for residents to use.

Water feature drop-offs will be the first thing that welcome residents of The 9 Stellars home after a day. In fact, suburban living is about the outdoors, the project caters for group seating areas, outdoor fitness, bbq area, pavilions and pedestrian walkways. Last but not least, residents can enjoy unblocked views of the green surroundings from panorama viewing decks in the apartment towers.

▸ 5. What are the amenities near to The 9 Stellars?

As with any high-end residential areas, The 9 Stellars and its surrounding neighbourhood has an integrated development plan in place that does not lose out to neighbourhoods nearer to the inner-city. Definitely attracting a residential community that is modern, intellectual and cultured. As it stands currently, lifestyle amenities around The 9 Stellars include:

• French international school – Marguerite Duras campus.
• A premier 300-hectares golf course – Vietnam Golf and Country Club.
• Popular local tourism destination – Suoi Tien Theme Park.
• Shopping and entertainment – Vincom Centre Le Van Viet.
• Supermarket – Coop Mart Le Van Viet.
• Developed 271.8-hectares residential area – Vinhomes Grand Park.

List of surrounding amenities in the vicinity of The 9 Stellars project.

Most importantly, education institutions around The 9 Stellars are plentiful ranging from primary all the way up to tertiary education. Choices of primary schools in the neighourhood includes Tan Phu Primary School and Nguyen Minh Quang Primary School. Next, for secondary schools there are Long Binh Secondary School, Nguyen Van Tang High School and Nguyen Hue High School. As for tertiary education, residents will be spoilt for choices from University of Finance and Marketing, University of Transportation, HCMC University of Technology, University of Forestry, National University, University of Science, and Science and Technology University.

As for job opportunities in the area of The 9 Stellars, there are countless businesses and factories operating in the surrounding industrial parks. The main ones in HCMC are Saigon Hi-tech Park and Lin Trung Export Processing Zone. Not to mention all the other industrial parks located in Dong Nai and Binh Duong that is on the peripheries of Thu Duc City.

▸ 6. How are The 9 Stellars floorplans designed?

Phase 1 townhouse design concept and site plan

The land parameter for each townhouse in The 9 Stellars have a frontage width of 7-meters and a depth/length of 22-meters. Hence, each plot of land will have an area of between 144.74 to 154.09 square meters (sqm). Each low-rise townhouse will be built to have a ground level and 3 upper levels. Note that phase 1 of the project consist of about 4.1-hectares of land area reserved for the townhouses.

Regarding the townhouses, the concept provides for a range of facade design to break the monotony of having a single design for whole rows of townhouses. Moreover, the design allows for individual diversity that is overall harmonised with a modern architectural style. Consider that each unit with its individual facade colours and materials all connecting to an overall green landscape by a lakefront. After all, the low-rise housing landscape is inspired by the romantic streets of Europe balanced with a modern building architecture.

Phase 1 apartment design concept and floorplan

Next up, the typical floorplan of The 9 Stellars apartment buildings consists of three 1+1-bedroom units, six 2-bedroom units, and three 3-bedrooms units. Thus, there are a total of 12 apartment units on a typical floor plate from level 5 up to 20.

Note that the apartment buildings are designed similar to a “S” shape, this allows the buildings to have 2 separate wings with the lift lobby in the middle separating the wings. As such, future residents will enjoy better privacy as the corridors to the individual units are neatly tucked away. Besides, the curved shape of the building maximises the views from most individual units towards a sprawling cultural heritage park or a lake and golf course. In addition, the apartment buildings are designed with green spaces and to provide natural ventilation and light. As with the overall project design concept, the apartment towers’ architecture is one based on modern elegance with a free-flowing vibe. 

▸ 7. What type of products are available in The 9 Stellars?

Phase 1 real estate product types and sizes

Firstly, at The 9 Stellars there are the low-rise landed housing products. Each townhouse is designed to consist of 3 to 4 bedrooms. Indicatively, these townhouses are built with a gross construction floor area of between 340.25 to 378.9 sqm over 4 floors per townhouse. In detail, The 9 Stellars townhouse types are as follows:

• Type P1: Land area 152.91 to 154.1 sqm with construction gross floor area of 378.9 sqm.
• Type P2: Land area of 144.74 to 150.1 sqm with construction gross floor area of 340.25 sqm.

Secondly, for the apartments, gross floor areas of the 1+1-bedroom units range from 51.66 to 66.45 sqm, 2-bedroom units are 69.62 to 77.4 sqm, and the 3-bedroom units are from 95.85 to 97.89 sqm. Specifically, the breakdown of The 9 Stellars apartment unit types are as follows:

• Type 1BR-A: Unit number XX.01 (south-west view), gross floor area is 51.66 sqm and useable area is 47.07 sqm. Efficiency 91.1%
• Type 1BR-B: Unit number XX.05 (north-east view), gross floor area is 58.36 sqm and useable area is 54.22 sqm. Efficiency 92.9%
• Type 1BR-C: Unit number XX.07 (north-east view), gross floor area is 66.45 sqm and useable area is 60.77 sqm. Efficiency 91.5%
• Type 2BR-A: Unit number XX.02 (south-west view), gross floor area is 74.98 sqm and useable area is 69.83 sqm. Efficiency 93.1%
• Type 2BR-B: Unit number XX.03 (north-west view), gross floor area is 77.45 sqm and useable area is 72.65 sqm. Efficiency 93.8%
• Type 2BR-C: Unit number XX.3A (north-east view), gross floor area is 70.21 sqm and useable area is 64.9 sqm. Efficiency 92.4%
• Type 2BR-D: Unit number XX.10 (south-west view), gross floor area is 70.45 sqm and useable area is 65.72 sqm. Efficiency 93.3%
• Type 2BR-E: Unit number XX.11 (south-west view), gross floor area is 72.1 sqm and useable area is 67.23 sqm. Efficiency 93.2%
• Type 2BR-F: Unit number XX.12 (south-west view), gross floor area is 79.14 sqm and useable area is 73.61 sqm. Efficiency 93%
• Type 3BR-A: Unit number XX.06 (north-east view), gross floor area is 98.56 sqm and useable area is 93.32 sqm. Efficiency 94.7%
• Type 3BR-B: Unit number XX.08 (south-east view), gross floor area is 97.89 sqm and useable area is 92.38 sqm. Efficiency 94.4%
• Type 3BR-C: Unit number XX.09 (south-west view), gross floor area is 95.85 sqm and useable area is 89.84 sqm. Efficiency 93.7%

Apart from typical apartments units, The 9 Stellars will also have penthouse and shophouse units. However, at this point of writing no official information on these real estate products are made available by the developer SonKim Land. 

Phase 1 real estate product handover conditions

For one thing, the developer will handover townhouses in The 9 Stellars project with a fully completed and finished townhouse facade. In addition, the interior of the townhouse products in the project will be in a bare-finish condition. 

What’s more, handover of the apartments will be in a basic-finish condition. The handover condition of The 9 Stellars apartments will be as follows:

• In general, all walls in the apartment will be plastered and painted over. Also, ceilings will have a painted gypsum board layer with basic ceiling light fittings. Importantly, all internal doors, external windows, and electrical power outlets will come intact. 
• In the same manner, living room and bedrooms will come with tiled flooring. And together with a fire rated timber door with digital lock, a video intercom system will also be included.
• As for the kitchen, wall and base cabinets will be provided with a counter top plus backsplash. Additional fittings such as sink with faucet plus cooker hob and hood will be thrown in as well.
• Next all bathrooms come fully completed with a water heater system, tiled walls, vanity counter top with wash basin plus faucet, shower enclosure with mixers, bathroom accessories where applicable, mirror and under counter vanity cabinets.

So then, unincluded items in the basic-finish handover condition are aircon sets (however, piping is provided). So too will be all moveable furniture as beds, sofa, wardrobes, certain cabinets and the likes. Additionally, moveable consumer appliances like refrigerator, televisions and washing machine are obviously left out as well.

Interior design for The 9 Stellars apartments.

▸ 8. When do buyers need to pay the instalments for The 9 Stellars?

Townhouse instalment payment schedule

First off, The 9 Stellars townhouse instalments are in accordance with the following payment schedule:

• To begin with, buyers will have to put in a USD 86,000 non-refundable deposit.
• After which, within 14 days they need to pay 25% minus the deposit amount and sign the deposit Agreement (DA).
• Followingly, the next instalment will be 5% prior to signing the Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA).
• Next, 1 month from executing the SPA, buyers will need to make an instalment payment of 10%.
• Continuously, by the 2nd and 3rd month from executing the SPA, they will need to pay 15% in each month.
• After that, buyers will need to pay 25% in the instalment upon notice of property handover estimated in December 2021.
• Finally, the last instalment will be 5% upon issuance of the Home Ownership Certificate (OC).

Note that when selecting a payment schedule for buying a townhouse in The 9 Stellars, there is an early payment scheme for buyers to get additional price discount.

Apartment instalment payment schedule

Regarding The 9 Stellars apartment, buyers who manage to secure a unit and opt for a standard payment scheme will make the following instalments:

• Firstly, buyers need to put in a non-refundable deposit of USD 4,300.
• Following that, within 14 days they are expected to make a down-payment of 10% less the deposit prior to signing the DA.
• Subsequently, the next instalment is 3 months after executing the DA, buyers need to make another 10% payment.
• Proceeding on, buyers will make another 5% payment 6 months after DA.
• After that, another 5% just before signing the SPA with the developer, estimated in March 2022.
• Thereafter, 10% payment every 2 months after signing SPA for the next 4 instalments over the space of 8 months.
• In due course, another 25% upon notice of apartment handover expected in November 2023.
• And a final instalment of 5% upon issuance of OC.

In order for simple understanding of the payment instalment milestones, making a deposit after selecting a unit will be 10% of the selling price. From deposit to executing the SPA another 15% have to be paid. And from SPA to just before handover another 70% have to be paid. Finally, upon issuance of the OC the last instalment of 5%. Also, when buying an apartment in The 9 Stellars, there is an early payment scheme for buyers to get additional price discount.

▸ 9. What home mortgage loan options are there to purchase The 9 Stellars?

For eligible buyers of The 9 Stellars real estate products, attractive home mortgage loans are available. The developer SonKim Land has appointed a bank to provide financing. Importantly, buyers will only need to pay 25% while 45% is disbursed by the bank until handover.

The 9 Stellars bank loan poster.

With townhouse buyers, there are no repayments of both principal and interest to the bank within 14 months from date of loan disbursement or handover date (whichever comes first). The details are as follows:

• Before signing the DA, buyers will have to pay in 25% of the townhouse selling price while the bank disburses 45%.
• Following it, there will be no further payment until handover where the buyer will need to pay another 25%.
• Lastly, the final payment of 5% will be upon the issuance of the OC.

As for apartment buyers, the “no repayments” grace period of both principal and interest to the bank is within 34 months from date of loan disbursement or handover date (whichever comes first).  The details are as such:

• Prior to the signing of the DA, buyers will have to pay 10% of the apartment selling price while the bank disburses 40%.
• Next, 3 months after DA, buyers will need to make another 10% payment and the bank wil continue to disburse an additional 5%.
• Prior to SPA signing, buyers will need to pay another 5%.
• Upon notice of handover, buyers will make a 25% payment.
• And finally, the last 5% to be paid upon issuance of OC. 

▸ 10. How much do buyers need to pay for The 9 Stellars?

From this point, please note that all townhouse and apartment prices mentioned below are the best estimates on The 9 Stellars pricing. Note that the actual property prices of The 9 Stellars are only released by the developer at sales launch. Most importantly, our professional opinions and insights on The 9 Stellars regarding its investment potential and if should you buy this project or not is available on a separate article.

Price of The 9 Stellars townhouses

If you are thinking about buying a townhouse in The 9 Stellars, as a buyer you will need to set aside on average USD 5,400 per sqm of land. So, for a typical land size of 154 sqm, you will need a total of about USD 832,000. It is important to note that the quantum amount is not all inclusive, you will need to factor in another 10% for Value Added Taxes (VAT). Thus, the total amount customers will need to buy The 9 Stellars townhouses is approximately USD 915,000. Besides, foreign buyers need to be prepared to pay a premium of 8% on top of the mentioned The 9 Stellars townhouse price.  

Price of The 9 Stellars apartments

In the case you are considering to buy an apartment in The 9 Stellars, you should set aside on average USD 2,400 per sqm exclusive of VAT. So, for a 1+1-bedroom unit with VAT be prepared to pay about USD 176,000, for a 2-bedroom unit with VAT about USD 198,000, and a 3-bedroom unit with VAT about USD 259,000.