CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISIONS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN SOUTHERN VIETNAM philippines in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree doctor of philosophy in management

CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISIONS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN... ii Republic of the Philippines IFUGAO STATE UNIVERSITY Nayon, Lamut, Ifugao APPROVAL SHEET This Dissertation Proposal CONSUMER

CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISIONS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN

ii

Republic of the Philippines

IFUGAO STATE UNIVERSITY

Nayon, Lamut, Ifugao

APPROVAL SHEET

This Dissertation Proposal

CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISIONS FOR

AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN NORTHERN VIETNAM

Prepared and submitted by LE DAI NGHIA is hereby recommended for

approval and acceptance as a requirement for the degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN MANAGEMENT

iii

ABSTRACT

Title: Consumer Purchase Decisions for Affordable Housing in Southern Vietnam

Researcher: LE DAI NGHIA

This study presents a research of factors affecting on consumer purchase decision for an affordable house in the South of Vietnam by using methods of descriptive statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), and Multiple

Regression

There were 413 complete questionnaires, with the ratio at 82.6%, among

500 survey questionnaires were collected This primary data was then tested Cronbach’s Alpha for scales, executed Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), adjusted the Hypotheses, and Regression Analysis The final

results of multiple regression showed that five factors strongly affecting the dependent variable “Purchase Decision” including Finance,

Environment, Physical, Marketing, and Legal factors with beta values respectively as 0.178, 0.226, 0.284, 0.133, and 0.109

Keywords: Affordable housing market, Purchase Decisions for Affordable House, Consumer Purchase Decisions for Affordable House

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am genuinely grateful to my dissertation committee and also to

my supervisor who patience and wisdom guided me every step of this journey I also want to acknowledge the faculty and staff at Ifugao State University for their encouragement and professionalism

Once again, thank you!

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DEDICATION

I am also grateful to my family Their love and supports that me to continue and achieve my education goals Thank you to my mom and dad, who have always stressed the importance of an education and have supported me during my time of joining PhD program

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CONTENTS

ABSTRACT iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv

DEDICATION v

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the study 5

1.2 Conceptual framework 60

1.3 Paradigm of the Study 61

1.4 Statement of the Problem 62

1.5 Hypotheses 63

Chapter 2 METHODOLOGY 65

2.1 Research design 65

2.2 Research Environment 66

2.3 Respondents 69

2.4 Data gathering procedures 72

2.5 Data Gathering Tools 72

2.6 Statistical Treatment 74

Chapter 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 79

3.1 Descriptive analysis 79

3.2 Test reliability of the scales (Cronbach’s Alpha) 84

3.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) 85

3.4 Adjusting study hypotheses after factor analysis 92

3.5 Regression Analysis 93

Chapter 4 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 111

4.1 Summary of the study results 111

Testing hypotheses of model 113

Implications for policy and practice 115

4.2 Recommend for the residential housing industry 115

4.2.1 Recommend for the residential afordable home buyer 115 4.2.2 Recommend for government 116

4.2.3 Recommend for further study 117

REFERENCES 119

APPENDICES 135

APPENDIX A 135

APPENDIX B 139

APPENDIX C 145

APPENDIX D 157

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1 Average Savings Capacity by Household Income Quintiles,

2014 (thousand, VND) 9

Table 2.1 Sample sizes for different sizes of the population at ………… 95

confidence level 71

Table 2.2 Distribution of respondents 72

Table 2.3 The measure and layout of the questionnaire 74

Table 3.1 Age 80

Table 3.2 Gender 81

Table 3.3 Marital Status 82

Table 3.4 Education Attainment 83

Table 3.5 Monthly Income 83

Table 3.6 House Ownership 84

Table 3.7 Results of testing Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient (Appendix A) 85 Table 3.8 Statistics of scale and observed variables before analyzing EFA 85

Table 3.9 Rotated Component Matrixa (Appendix B) 86

Table 3.10 KMO and Bartlett's Test 87

Table 3.11 Total Variance Explained 87

Table 3.12 Results of testing Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient (Appendix A) 88 Table 3.13 Correlations 94

Table 3.14 Coefficientsa 96

Table 3.15 Model Summaryb 96

Table 3.16v ANOVAa 97

Table 3.17 Summary of regression analysis 110

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1-1 Conceptual Framework 61

Figure 1-2 Paradigm of the Study 61

Figure 2-1 Map of Provinces in Southern of Viet Nam 69

Figure 3-1 Adjusted Model 93

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

Housing is extremely important to all people Housing has

significant influenced on all aspect of human life from basic need to quality of life, health, welfare as well as productivity of man Thus, a

house is considered as the largest single asset owned by most

households, and a house is a high involvement product for residents (Zeng, 2013) In spite of this widely acknowledged the importance of acquiring an appropriate house is strongly emphasised in many

societies, a large proportion of urban residents in less developed

countries do not have access to decent housing at affordable cost (Ibem, 2011) Hence, inadequate housing condition has become an intractable challenge that has continued to receive attention from governments and

individuals in many developing countries There was a study done by World Bank (2015) found out since Doi Moi, the country has experienced impressive economic growth, averaged at 7.4 percent per annum from

1990 to 2008, lowering to an average of 6 percent per annum from 2007

to 2013 Strong economic growth has supported a substantial reduction

in poverty, from 58 percent in 1993 to 17 percent in 2012 Vietnam is recognized as a country with the second fastest growth rate among the

countries in East Asia and the fastest in Southeast Asia (Luu, Kim,

Truong & Ogunlana, 2009) Membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has helped Vietnam become prominent on the world investment

map The growth was fuelled not just by the textile industry, which the country is so known for, but also the IT, tourism, automotive, medical devices and high-technology manufacturing for global brands such as

Samsung, LG Electronics, and Intel (Chan, 2016) Experts are expecting the Vietnamese economy to continue its 7% growth path for several more years to come Yet, Vietnam has remained largely rural, with more than

half of its population working in the agricultural sector, which only

contributed 17 percent of GDP in 2014 (World Bank, 2015) Not only has the economic growth outpaced that of other low-income nations in the region, but also Vietnam has been perceived as a successful model for

poverty alleviation (Linh & Thao, 2011) Urbanization has been used as a tool to accelerate economic growth and poverty reduction (World Bank, 2015) Increasing migration reflects not only economic growth but also important regional socioeconomic disparities, particularly between the

cities and the countryside, and the growing labour market in large cities and the expanding industrial zones

Over the last 20 years’ the household size in Vietnam has dropped from 4.7 in 1995 to 3.6 in 2014 Rural-urban migration increased from

20% to 34% in the same period, while agriculture as a proportion of total GDP continues to fall (Chan, J 2016,October) Unlike locals who

purchase housing with the fastest-growing middle class across Southeast Asia and that is expected to triple again from 12 million in 2012 to 33

million in 2020, fuelling the growing consumer market (Jennings, 2016)

Following the Doi Moi Reform era, state-owned developers dominated housing production until 1998 Since then, a growing number of private developers have entered and become active in residential housing Yet, Vietnam’s real estate sector has also experienced three major downturns

in this period, revealing the weaknesses of the housing system A volatile market during 2009-2012 resulted in rising inflation, high interest rates,

slowed growth, and ineffective government policies which deflated the real estate bubble With over a span of four years saw prices corrected by

as much as 40% as investor-enthusiasm waned Buyers and developers defaulted on loans and banks were crippled in the process, leading to an

inability to support businesses which led to further economic distress, abandoned projects and spates of bankruptcies In May 2013, there were approximately VND237 trillion of real estate loans outstanding and the real estate bad debt ratio was estimated at nearly 6.53% (World Bank,

2015) The State Bank of Vietnam had to absorb the impact of $8b of non-performing loans to stem losses (Chan, 2016) Supported by the 30 trillion stimulus package in 2013, market has led to stronger

participation by developers in the affordable housing segment, in spite of

lower margins The housing sector has yet to absorb ~25,000 units of pre-bubble housing Stimulated by the 30T Package, 65,000 additional affordable units are expected to come into the market over the next two years The market shows signs of heating The real estate sector is one of

the fastest growing sectors in Vietnam and is considered as one of the

major sectors that contribute significantly to the economic development

of the nation Housing and real estate sector has got one of the highest employment generation capabilities Besides, the inflow of FDI into this

sector gives momentum to all other related sectors Successive

Governments in Vietnam, both at the center and state levels, often

accord high priority to this sector The Vietnamese real-estate industry is

very much dependent on bank credit In World Bank observations,

normally a project is financed 70% by bank loans and 30% by equity Property prices, especially housing prices in big cities, have been too high

in comparison with people’s average income and development level of the economy A research report of Parliament’s economic committee in early

2013, housing prices in Vietnam were recorded at 25 times higher than average income of residents, five times higher than regional prices and

100 times up compared to the level of 20 years ago (World Bank, 2015)

Developers remain primarily focused on the upscale segment, which produced greater margins than the low-end segments In addition, and clearly the symptoms of an immature market, Chan (2016) was seeing developers violating laws of investment and construction, be it

deliberately or due to a lack of transparency Regulations on collateral, unsecured loans and housing sales were not complied, leading to

complicated disputes These problems range from delay in handover the house, short of infrastructure connection to more serious ones like

abandoned , sub-standard house quality and series of bitter disputes

between residents and developers (Tuoi Tre New, 2015) Whereas, the current legal framework had lagged far behind the development of

housing projects, failing to address emerging issues (VNS , 2013) Due to

lack of legal basis for the settlement of disputes, breach sanctions of violation not enough deterrent On the other hand, contracts and

agreements signed between the parties are not close and there are many

gaps in the absence of binding rules responsibility of developers Owning

a house is every person’s dream, but their dreams have turned into

nightmares

1.1 Background of the study

Affordable housing is housing that is an adequate in standard and location for a lower or middle-income household and does not cost so much that such a household is unlikely to be able to meet other basic living costs on a sustainable basis (National Summit on Housing

Affordability, 2006) According to Bakhtyar et al., (2012 ), there were different definitions of affordable housing in various countries all over the world Wadhwa (2009) argued that affordable housing gets defined purely

in terms of what households in different income ranges can afford and

housing is provided by the market within that price range irrespective of the quality of housing Affordable housing is the new definition which often appears on the project of governmental organization for the house

As the HUD (USAlam & Larso, 2016) of Housing and Urban

Development,) defined: "Affordable housing includes social rented and intermediate housing, provided to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the market" (Planning Policy Statement, 2010 ) In

a more specific word, affordable housing should meet the needs of

eligible households including the availability at a cost low enough for them to afford and determined with regard to local incomes and local

house prices This kind of home still remains at an affordable price for future eligible households A study by Milligan, Phibbs, Fagan & Gurran (2004) said that affordable housing is intended generally to meet the needs of households whose incomes are not sufficient to allow them to

access appropriate housing in the market without assistance The draft London Plan defines affordable housing as “housing designed to meet the needs of households whose incomes are not sufficient to allow them to access decent and appropriate housing in their borough The affordable

housing comprises a social housing, intermediate housing (for low and moderate income households) and in some case, low-cost market

housing” (MOL, 2002) A kind of affordable housing is subsidized

housing or social housing Alam & Larso (2016) noted that subsidized

housing is government-sponsored economic assistance aimed towards alleviating housing costs and expenses for people in need with low to moderate incomes Forms of subsidies include direct housing subsidies, non-profit housing, public housing, rent supplements and some forms of

co-operative and private sector housing It is required for low-income

communities The concept of "social housing" began to emerge from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada in the 1970s and gradually spread to other countries like Japan, South Korea Social

housing is a provider for those who have low income Subjects in a social housing according to the regulations of the country but usually boiled down to the state officials, the poor, people with low incomes In

Vietnam, all objects have been defined in the Housing Law include public employees and officials, officers and professional soldiers of the people's armed forces receive salaries from the state budget, public people

working in economic zones, industrial parks, export processing zones,

high-tech zone, the objects returned public houses which have

difficulties in housing (Tan, 2016)

In the context of Vietnam, defining an affordable housing in

Vietnam in this study base on Resolution No 02/NQ-CP: affordable

housing includes commercial housing and social housing which housing with an area less than 70m2 and price bellow VND 15 million/m2 Law

on housing (2014) defined that commercial housing means any house which is built for sale, lease, or lease-purchase according to market

mechanism and social house means any house provided for entities benefitting from the policies on housing support carried out by the State

as prescribed in Law on housing As a matter of fact, housing issue is always threatening both low and middle-income households as housing

is nearly the largest expenditure of a family (Baqutaya, Ariffin & Raji,

2016) Ahmed, Sager & Vu (2010) point out that providing affordable housing could bring lots benefits to the whole society Housing is not merely a social-welfare issue, but also a production sector able to absorb

labour, generate jobs and support socio-economic development In

addition, helping low and middle-income groups at the lower end in the market on achieving home-ownersship is also a mean of wealth

redistribution, which helps to provide equal rights to everyone (Diamond, 2009) Besides, You, Wu & Han (2011) argued that the increasing

housing affordability improves the quality of life with more stable and healthier neighbourhood and safer community According to Ahmed,

Sager & Vu (2010), three main factors make urban low-income housing

an issue of growing concern in Vietnam One, many people still live in old, dilapidated housing Two, real estate speculation has sent urban land prices rocketing upward; finding adequate housing is a struggle for

the urban majority, including the middle-class This leads to extensive informal housing developments, which in turn brings a host of problems Three, rural-urban migration is presenting serious challenges for

sustainable urban development

Table 1.1 Average Savings Capacity by Household Income Quintiles, 2014

(thousand, VND)

HH Income

Avg HH Expenditures

Avg Different (Incl Savings) Household

Vietnam still has a substantial deficit of quality housing This will

mean that an estimated 374,000 additional units are needed in cities

annually, with the number of urban households projected to increase to 10.1 million in 2020 (from 8.3 million in 2015), as a result of urban

population growth and a decline in the average household size at 1.1

percent per annum (World Bank, 2015) Lan (2011) revealed that house prices are already out-of-reach of most households in Vietnam However, social housing is not aimed at socially vulnerable groups such as People

working in the private sector, lower level government employees and

particularly young people who are trying to establish their own

households (Gough & Tran, 2009) Youth aged 14-25 are currently the largest demographic segment constituting a quarter of the total

population of Vietnam (Ministry of Health, 2005) and of these, nearly one

in four live in urban areas (Dang et al., 2005) As Dang (2007) has

indicated, the shift towards a market economy places new constraints on young people who are caught between old and new social norms and

values The research by Baqutaya, Ariffin & Raji (2016) offered strong support for the view that the middle-income group are almost the large group that is trapped in the affordable housing issues Sun (2011)

mentioned that the middle-income group who is not eligible for the

current affordable housing program in Vietnam and cannot afford the market rate housing The truth is that the middle-income group also desperately needs housing assistance The people of middle income and

low-income people still have the desire to live in an apartment with good quality, good living environment with a good price A good price means the price they can afford, higher than a low-priced house with better quality of product and services In order to achieve sustainability in the

housing industry in Vietnam, housing developers should regulate their housing activities to suit households’ needs and wants One possible way

to meet households’ housing needs is to examine factors which affect purchasing housing decision This research can be justified on three

grounds: gaps in current academic research, the high growth of the

housing industry and the potential benefits for the practice of the

research outcomes The purpose of this research is to provide an insight into the motivation behind Vietnamese customers when deciding to

purchase an affordable housing This study will contribute in many

ways It is hoped that the study will contribute significantly towards understanding the factors that need to put into consideration in housing provision for the different socio-economic status of housing consumers

The developers or marketers could use this study for the development of future residential projects Developers would then be able to better meet homebuyers’ needs and achieve a competitive advantage (Van, Kim, Truong & Ogunlana, 2009)

Besides, scholars may gain further insight into the numerous variables that influence purchase decision on housing and ways of

synthesising these variables Factors related to purchasing housing

decision are numerous and their relationships are very complex

Consequently, the scope of this study will be on selected factors that are relevant to the housing market in South Vietnam such as home-

ownersship, housing characteristics, finance, marketing, government

policies, as well as key socio-economic and demographic factors The study by Luo & James (2013) said that consumer behaviour is defined as the behaviour that consumer display in seeking, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of product and services that they expect will

satisfy their personal needs Iman, Pieng & Gan (2012) argued that

property purchase is a complex decision-making process as evidenced by costly acquisition, infrequent purchase, riskiness, high self-

expressiveness, and awareness among buyers of significant differences

among product alternatives (Iman, 2002; Daly et al., 2003; Livette,

2006) Consumer behaviour models can be used to understand (1) the influence of internal and external factors on individual and business consumers’ decisions and (2) the process consumers use to make a

decision regarding real estate purchase, financing, operation and sale (see Gibler and Nelson, 2003, for examples) Consumer perceived value is the difference between the prospective consumer’s evaluation of all the benefits (including image, personnel, services, product benefits) and all the cost of an offering (including psychological, energy, time and

monetary costs) and the perceived alternatives (Koller, Floh, & Zauner, 2011; Kotler & Armstrong, 2009) Thus, consumers intend to search,

select and purchase the housing attributes which they perceive to be the most valuable or which offer most benefits to them, within the bounds of

a certain total cost (Farmer & Lipscomb, 2010; Fierro et al., 2009; Taylor, 2008) Past studies have discussed home buyers’ purchase preferences

in the context of particular countries, and have also investigated which factors influenced consumers’ purchase behaviours (Zeng, 2013) Wright (2006) noted that consumers undertake a standard decision-making process when buying a new home Initially, this process begins with

“need awareness” where the consumer recognizes that there is a problem with the current situation and that there is a need for change (Wright, 2006) This is followed by the consideration of the “evoked set” which is the group of products that instinctively come to mind when considering a

purchase (LeBlanc and Turley, 1994) The evoked set is determined by

the types of homes available within the marketplace at that particular time, which may include, but is not limited to; an apartment, semi-

detached or detached home, bungalow, new modern home or a period,

character-full home Considering the real estate industry, the search for information is supported equally both by external and internal sources Bettman, (1979) and Punj, (1987) stated that initially the customers

check and obtain information by means of internal information search (i.e.) they gather information which is they already possess In the view of Kiel and Layton, 1981 and Engel, Blackwell and Miniard (1995) there certain factors which affect and have a negative impact the process of

internal information search Such factors are the depth of experience, length of time since the last purchase of the land and the level of

satisfaction with the previous purchase directly affects the customer’s reliance on the internal information Those consumers with the greatest

knowledge of the product and market may already possess all the

information they need to make a decision without a formal extended search of any type In case of the customers with very little knowledge about the real estate such as first-time homebuyer, customers depend on

the personal sources like real estate brokers, newspapers, friends and relatives (Clark and Smith, 1979; Talarchek, 1982 and National

Association of Realtors, 1989) Levy, Murphy & Lee (2008) indicated that family and friends of Asian people were more likely to influence the

purchase decision, whereas European families tended to be more

independent of these outside influences Searching the market for all possible alternatives is usually impossible Consumers may be limited in their ability to determine the optimal choice based on all the salient

characteristics (Capon and Kuhn, 1982) Once a consumer has decided

to purchase a specific type of home, they will consider vital aspects such

as price level, design type, floor size, style presentation, the extent of

prestige, and image portrayal, for which a buyer considers them in

combination during a purchase decision (Manivannan & Somasundaram, 2014) This is emphasized by research undertaken by the NHBC (2008) which suggests that the location, type and design of a property will have

a significant influence on the final purchase deliberations (Callaghan, 2014) Based on previous studies (Bao & Wan, 2007; Farmer &

Lipscomb, 2010; Sunding & Swoboda, 2010), the potential customers first identify the major attributes and benefits they need and want and

then assess the quantitative importance of each attribute and benefit After they estimate which attributes will deliver the most perceived value for them, they prefer to pay money for these most valuable attributes Furthermore, Zeng, R.(2013) found that the relative importance of

various housing attributes varies across national contexts Consumers may use a combination of decision rules in choosing a housing Intention

is an indication of a person's willingness to perform the behavior, and it

is an immediate antecedent of behavior (Al-Nahdi, Nyakwende, Banamah

& Jappie, 2015) Therefore, the intention to purchase is an antecedent to

a purchase-decision (Phung, 2010) Research studies (Ajzen, 1991,

p.179; Han & Kim, 2010, p 659; Kunshapn & Yiman, 2011, p.7579) found that the decision related to purchase real estate has a link

between the “intention to purchase” and “decision to purchase” of

customers Purchasing decision refers to many choices made by a

consumer before making a purchase that begins once the consumer has

established a willingness to purchase The consumer must then decide where to make the purchase, which brand, model, or size to purchase, when to make the purchase, how much to spend, and what method of payment will be used (Plabdaeng, 2010) In his book, Kotler (2012) states

two factors which are between the purchase intention and purchase decision (intervening factors), they are the attitude of others and

unanticipated situational factors Numerous publication (Levy, Murphy & Lee, 2008; Chang & Liao, 2011; Al-Nahdi, Ghazzawi & Bakar, 2015)

indicated that family and friends of Asian families were more likely to influence the purchase decision Sometimes the interventions of people outside the nuclear family can cut across a hitherto systematic and

logical search process and produce unexpected results An unanticipated

situation factor has an impact on the purchase intention In the bubble burst moment, a person who is planning to buy a house can stop this idea because of financial crisis If a consumer perceives any risk, he can postpone the purchasing decision ( Phan, 2015) There are six types of

risk that a consumer can perceive:

✓ Functional risk: the product does not perform to expectations

✓ Physical risk: The product poses a threat to the physical being or health of the user or others

well-✓ Financial risk: The product is not worth the price paid

✓ Social risk: The product results in embarrassment in front of others

✓ Psychological risk: The product affects the mental well-being of the user

✓ Time risk: The failure of the product results in an opportunity cost of finding another satisfactory product

Buying a house, with the immobility, uniqueness, durability and costly payment, is always quite different from daily purchase For most families, the purchase of a house represents the largest single

investment in their lifetime Because of this reason, they should seriously

consider many critical factors in order to find the most suitable house for them (Chang, Ku, Ho & Liao, 2011) In housing literature, purchasing affordable housing decision is widely discussed as a part of purchasing housing decision A variety of studies focuses on housing characteristics

such as cost, size, quality construction and location Others give

attention to demographic characteristics such as age, sex, marital status and income as determinants of preference Some investigate purchasing housing decision in the connection with the neighborhood and social

environment A brief review of related literature below will provide a

background for discussion on purchasing affordable housing decision

Physical housing is an important component in the measure of

quality in housing Previous studies ( Adair et al., 1996, Bajpai &

Bhalchandra, 2015, Daly et al., 2003; Ratchatakulpat et al., 2009; Sidi 2010) have shown that physical of housing is a significant factor

affecting housing satisfaction These physical attributes include design, the character of housing, structural housing or space, basic

infrastructure and quality construction In the process of providing

affordable housing, any changes in plans that reduce essential

infrastructure and standards (in terms of design) need to ensure that construction costs can be as low as possible This ensures that the

maximum price is both low and affordable for low-income and medium income people However, in order to find the most inexpensive method for

producing affordable housing, factors such as safety, durability and suitability cannot be ignored by developers (Sani, 2013) Zeng, (2013) defined that house design includes growth capacity, flexibility, symbolic aspects, internal layout and housing typology The design of a house

makes greater influence to the customer’s choice ( Ariyawansa, 2010) In the real estate market, the customers are becoming increasingly choosy when purchasing housings Ariyawansa, (2010) argued that the design helps to differentiate the housing easily too As such, enhancing the

quality of real estate products in the design phase may be an effective

means of achieving competitive advantage ( Van, Kim, Truong &

Ogunlana, 2009) Vietnamese expressed design need to be well suited to daily activities (Lan, 2011) Attributes such as orientation, nice

appearance and basic furniture are less concerned In order to assure the alignment of elements of design with requirements of a housing project, the developer needs to manage decision making in a way that

ensures the best possible results ( Van, Kim, Truong & Ogunlana, 2009) Ahmed, Sager & Vu (2010) stated that affordable housing designers should encourage compact, mixed-use The integrated smart design is possible to design more comfortable and sustainable housing without

significant cost increases In structural design optimization usually concerns simultaneous minimization of material and construction cost and maximization of stability, stiffness and strength With respect to building layout, optimization usually concerns maximization of

accessibility and reachability as well as the satisfaction of perceptual requirements, such as visual openness and privacy (Sariyildiz,

Bittermann & Ciftcioglu, 2008) Summary, appropriate technology,

holistic and integrated design approaches should be emphasised

Adaptable design means readily adjusted An adaptable house is able to respond effectively to changing household use requirements without requiring costly and energy-intensive alterations (Waibel, Eckert, Bose & Volker, 2007) Low-cost adaptation is important in ensuring buildings

durability, embodied energy is minimized and resource consumption is

reduced (Mercer et al., 2007) There are also socio-cultural benefits

attached to building easily adaptable housing (Bullen, 2007), such as allowing older residents to easily and cost-effectively remain in the

familiar environment of their home Adaptability is often reflected by the application of ‘Universal Design Principles’ (ANUHD, 2008; Connell et al., 1997) Adaptable features are a marketing advantage for owners and

occupants as they allow fully accessible dwellings to be closely suited to their users and marketable to anyone The term “green” also implies to eco-friendly, environmentally friendly, and sustainability (Han and Kim, 2010) Therefore, a green housing is referred to a house that is built by

considering reduction of all contamination to the environment from all factors (Numraktrakul, Ngarmyarn & Panichpathom (2012) Low-energy consumption has become the important factor influence the quality of affordable housing mainly because all respondents in the study by Goh

& Ahmad (2011) were hoping for a house that needs less energy

consumption Various researchers (Tan, 2012; Zalejska-Jonsson, 2014) found that customers are willing to pay higher for low-energy

consumption In the context of Vietnam, Van Luu, T et al (2009)

indicated that increasing the area of windows for natural lighting and ventilation is a major factor influencing on the value of a middle-grade apartment Zeng (2013) stipulated that exterior of the housing includes the appearance of the house, type of finish, quality of finish, the presence

of a garden, the function of the garden, the type and the quality of roof,

external walls and external floors The exterior look of housing is the vital aspect for making purchasing decision of the housing in the study by Manivannan, P., & Somasundaram (2014) There are three main types of

housing products: single homes, townhouses and apartments (Bevans, 2009) A single-family house is one that is located on its own piece of land and is not attached to anyone else's residence, householders can

modify or improve their houses as they wish A townhouse also sits on a parcel of land which the householder owns, but it is always attached to one or more other houses So, persons who live in a townhouse have less personal privacy than experienced in a single family home When each

home-owners owns their individual unit space in a group of housing units, these individual units are called apartments The individual

apartments share ownership of common areas and amenities such as exterior structures (car parking, exterior walls, rooftop etc.), pools,

playgrounds and clubhouses with other people (Kimmons, 2011) Waibel, Eckert, Bose & Volker (2007) argued that Vietnam should enable

different housing typologies according to current and future demands Variability is necessary to support different demands and lifestyles as

well as different income and occupational groups Majid, Said & Daud (2012) showed that type of house becomes the highest frequency that has always been considered by the customers during decision making stage prior to purchasing a house Based on previous studies (Chin,

2016, Si, 2012), most people, especially families prefer single houses

than other types of homes However, Kumar Gupta & Malhotra (2016) observed that majority of people who demand apartments are young and have migrated from smaller cities to bigger cities Numerous publication

(Ariyawansa, 2010; Chin, 2016; Chang, Ku, Ho & Liao, 2011) showed that the lifetime is also a significant attribute of a house, which

consciously affects to the consumer purchase decision For households

in the process of buying a housing unit, choosing a newer dwelling

implies that less maintenance work will have to be carried in the future

On the other hand, it is interesting to note that a house older than fifty years old sometimes may become a positive attribute because of cachet

considerations Structural of housing refers to the layout of the housing Structural attributes consider all physical conditions as well as the

quality of the housing Based on previous studies (Opoku &

Abdul-Muhmin, 2010; Singh, 2013 ; Ratchatakulpat et al., 2009; Abdul 2008;

Abdullah, Nor, Jumadi & Arshad, 2012), common structural attributes consist of size, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, living room and dining room Sidi (2010) noted that space requirement is normally determined

in relation to activities This would involve calculating the space needed

for furniture, equipment, space to use the equipment, storage space and also space for performing the activity Space requirement is dependent upon family size, family composition and cultural values Lan (2011) found that in Vietnam, the lack of space plays the most important role in the young households’ housing decisions, either in the form of housing

needs arising after weddings, when a child is born, or the needs to

improve housing conditions, etc This conforms to the conclusion of previous studies that space deficit is one of their biggest concerns that

come along with life cycle changes, especially during the expansion and child-rearing stages Much of previous studies found that the importance link of the structural of housing and house purchase (Opoku & Abdul-

Muhmin, 2010; Manivannan & Somasundaram, 2014) However, recent studies ( Chia, Harun, Kassim, Martin, & Kepal (2016) and Tan (2016) noted that living space was found to have a negative and insignificant relationship with house purchase intention In the context of Vietnam,

living space was not interested when people purchase social housing, which can be explained by the Vietnam Housing Law provisions

communal housing area assembly is not more than 70m2 Previous

purchase decision studies (Hurtubia et al ,2010 , Samuels, 2005) tend

to indicate that the number of rooms is an important feature to be

considered by households in making home-ownership decisions,

particularly in Western countries However, the study by Tan (2012) showed that there were insignificant relationships in the preference to

become a home-owners based on the number of bathrooms, size of the living room, the built-up area and the kitchen area Besides, according to (Samuels, 2005), another survey qualifies this by noting that each room must be an appropriate size for the purpose the purchaser has in mind

for it It may be that this finding reflects dissatisfaction by purchasers

who have bought on the number of rooms only to find they cannot use them as they intended Ariyawansa (2010) mentioned that size of the total house or each essential section should suit the customers' needs

and desires The house size or each essential section size is measured by the floor space of a house or the floor space of essential section., is a new contribution of the study, used to determine the decision of purchasing a

house(Gao, 2011) Various researchers (Gao, 2011; Abelson and Chung, 2005) found that size of houses used to determine the decision of

purchasing a house Furthermore, Clark et al (2006) pointed out that most households make an effort at all times to increase the size of their

housing lot, as it symbolizes more luxury for the inhabitants

The study by Van, Kim, Truong & Ogunlana (2009) indicated that the balcony (or logia) connected to the living room and the laundry area with enough space for hanging the washing are major factors influencing

on the value of a middle-grade apartment in Vietnam Lan (2011) found out that about the layout, young households are likely to prefer large sitting room to large bedroom This is somewhat different from typical apartments in Vietnam, which have rather large bedroom compared to living room The large bedroom used to serve as “common space” for the family since children usually sleep in their parents’ bedroom when they are small A house cannot be used alone A number of other basic

products so-called basic infrastructure such as water, electricity, fire

fighting systems, garbage disposal- drainage systems, car/ motorbike

park which are indispensable to make a house usable in the least

condition (Ariyawansa, 2010; Tan, 2012; Singh, 2013) A study by Nor, AZr, Siti, & Yuhainis (2015) said that the basic infrastructure also played

an important role for the customers to decide which housing they should purchase Moreover, Waibel, Eckert, Bose & Volker (2007) agreed that a sufficient provision of basic infrastructure is essential for a sustainable

urban neighborhood The fire-fighting systems are very important and the fire safety standards that were developed to address this risk sought

to afford the same level of safety found in houses especially those living

in apartments Samuels (2005) stated that the accommodation of the

motor car is an issue that affects both the neighbourhood In the context

of Vietnam, respondents who expressed their interest/demand for

apartments in new urban areas, regard car parking space “important” to their purchasing decision It is supposed that the basic infrastructure should go ahead of commercial and residential projects, or at least “just

in time” In reality, basic infrastructure in the periphery is lagged far behind the development The supply of water & power is also an

important attribute (43% of the respondents take this as “highly

important”) This may come to concern of the buyers because, the power and water supply system for areas that are far from city centers may not

be fully completed or of stable quality (Lan, 2011) Dey (2016) mentioned that additional sections as balcony, lift, parapet wall, swimming pool etc:

are in addition to the core benefit of a house This is also another type of

augmented product relating to a house (Ariyawansa, 2010) In technical terms, a house is a structure, which comprises of three main

components as the floor, walls and the roof The durability, strength,

appearance, cost of construction, maintenance, and all of a housing unit largely depend on the quality of construction of these three main

components (Ariyawansa, 2007) The concept of the affordable housing

with low price to make many people think this type of how with low

quality Now with the new design method, the use of reasonable

innovative materials and technologies to create the reasonable

construction cost with high quality of the housing According to Wilson

(2010), construction materials relates to the selection of materials such

as the use of low embodied energy new materials and the re-use and recycling of old materials There are a variety of conflicting requirements associated with the selection of materials used in construction

Specifically, the use of recycled or renewable materials may impact

favourably on affordability but some of these materials might not be socially acceptable In addition, careful analysis and selection of the materials used and the way they are combined can yield significant

improvements in the comfort, cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency of a home (Lan, 2011) Construction methods relate to methods and

techniques, including new innovations, that will contribute to improved affordability and environmental sustainability Innovation in

construction methods must be considered in the context of the

contribution to affordability and sustainability, not just advancement in technology (Craig et al., 2000) The method in use in the Vietnam context has advantages and disadvantages depending on factors such as climate,

availability of materials and skilled labour, budget and social

acceptability and appearance Innovation in construction methods must

be considered in the context of the contribution to affordability and

sustainability (Pullen, Arman, Zillante, Zuo, Chileshe & Wilson, 2010) Zadkarim & Emari (2011) recommended that developers apply particular focus on their efforts to assure high housing quality and housing quality dimensions that are most important for each customer in order to be

more effective in improving purchase housing decision Nasar & Manoj (2015) revealed that the attribute “perception on quality housing and having satisfying capacity while and after purchase” dominates among all quality-related attributes with the highest mean value According to

Miron, 2004, the factors that people should consider before buying a house are location, location and location Ariyawansa (2010) indicated that the fixed location of a house is an underlined feature of a product of this kind Due to the fixity of the location, each house is different from

another Decision on the location to live in is a critical action because it will lead to household long-term financial burdens, daily activities and opportunities, social interactions, health and safety, as well as costs imposed on others (Litman, 2012) These studies (Daly, Gronow, Jenkins

& Plimmer, 2003; Mohd Thas Thaker & Chandra Sakaran, 2016) have

prove that the location has strong association with the property value In the issue of housing selection , various studies (Al-otaibi, 2006, Yusuf & Resosudarmo, 2009, Opoku & Abdul-Muhmin, 2010) indicated that the

location of a residential unit has an influence on housing choice

Moreover, to many customers, the location is the most important factor

on residential property investment decision (Sean & Hong, 2014) So, the

location plays the most important role that influences the successful of the housing project (Salleh, Zoher, Mahayuddin & Abdul, 2015; Kauko, 2007) The good location will give a high degree of profit return

According to Singh (2013), accessibility is access to facilities , access to

public transportation and connectivity to main road The result of the study by Lan (2011) is somewhat close to the conclusion of the study by Wang & Li (2004), accessibility is more important than housing

attributes Conversely, the result is contrary to conclusion of most

researchers carried out in various Western cities (Molin & Timmermans, 2002), accessibility does not have significant impact on housing choice behavior as long as people are able to afford flexible means of transport According to Ratchatakulpat, Miller & Marchant (2009), other aspects of

location include distance from various facilities There seem to be two aspects One is a general factor of transport and proximity to amenities and the CBD The second aspect is specific proximity to work, shops and schools, suggesting a more personal or community interest in key work

and family-related aspects of purchases Waibel, Eckert, Bose & Volker

(2007) mentioned that new and existing neighborhoods have to be

developed with the aim of the "city of short distances" to reduce traffic and therefore to reduce investment and follow-up secondary costs for

infrastructure This aim requires the spatial coordination of urban

functions such as living, working, education and leisure time The

location of a sustainable neighborhood must therefore be oriented to the

availability of places of employment, facilities and transportation, or respectively, these functions must be integrated in the sense of a

balanced use mix Alam & Dwi (2016) indicated that the facilities include public facilities and social facilities Facilities play an important role in

producing housing quality (Mohit, Ibrahim & Rashid, 2010) Besides that, by having an efficient and effective facilities and amenities supply, the property buyer feels safe and enjoys residing there (Almatarneh, 2013) Most of the facilities were not built in the early stages of the

housing development but have been provided in several stages Ariff & Rima (2011) claimed that most of the urban low-cost housing suffered from inadequate community facilities So, research studies (Mohit,

Ibrahim & Rashid, 2010; Montgomery & Curtis, 2006) found that

facilities thought to be evaluated by households when choosing a

housing location Contrary to previous studies, in the context of Florida, American, Alam & Dwi (2016) contend that facilities variable has no

influence on the home purchase final decision Levine (1998) pointed that travel time may have an effect on households’ home- owning

preferences, particularly for low-to-moderate-income households Mohd

& Chandra (2016) prove that distance is also an important factor that affects buyer’s preference in the decision making of property buyers Distance relates to the location of the house to daily activities and other facilities such as hospital, shops, and central business districts As pointed by Cheah and Tan (2012), short distance will result in low

transportation costs It is reasonable to believe that long distance means incurring more traveling time and cost Singh (2013) defined that

proximity daily activities include proximity to workplace, children's school and retail store Chia, Harun, Kassim, Martin & Kepal (2016)

implied that consumers in Kota Kinabalu Malaysia, perceived

considerable importance on distance especially from house to school, workplaces as compared to locations to perform other activities In

addition, they also do not bother about the travel distance from their

house in performing their daily activities This could be due to

availability of owning vehicles and good road conditions Crane (1996)

revealed that distance to workplace as associated with secure job

relations, low moving expenses, fewer job changes, low transportation

costs and additional time available for households to manage daily

activities According to Karsten (2007), the distance from the workplace has been found to affect household Gou and Bhat’s (2006) study found that households locate themselves close to the workplace of female

workers in the household However, Montgomery & Curtis (2006) and

Plaut (2006) stated that household choices regarding employment and place of housing are often jointly made decisions That is in residential selection commute trips are jointly chosen to be either longer or shorter

for both spouses Based on the finding by Teck-Hong (2012) ,

home-ownerss are only satisfied with the house that is situated within 5 km from the workplace Tan (2012) noted that distance to the workplace was

significantly and positively associated with home-ownership

considerations In this survey, 28.8% higher possibilities of home

ownership was observed for houses not far from the workplace

respectively Youqin and Chengdong (2011) mentioned that households

with children would consider moving their house closer to the school Tan (2012) observed that distance to schools was significantly and

positively associated with home-ownership considerations and 25.4% higher possibilities of home ownership was observed for houses not far

from the schools, respectively Thus, Sean & Hong (2014) study which its respondents had obtained or transacted more than one (1) residential property for the past three years indicated that by staying closer to the workplace and school will bring about time saving In China, convenience

to daily goods shopping is an important consideration for

home-ownersship preferences (Wang & Li, 2006) Wong, K W., Hui, E C M.,

Ko, C K., & Chung, K W (2009) study which used data from Hongkong noted that older people also like their homes near markets or

supermarkets Older people are also less likely to drive, and this is

another factor that leads to close market fondness Besides, The

departure of children to their homes also increases the need for close and accessible retail store, in part because children are no longer able to

provide transportation by car In addition, the availability of retail

centers and shops will provide convenience to households as grocery buying is an essential part of living of a household (Cheah & Tan, 2012)

Base on the study by Tan (2012), first-time home- buyers are

approximately 23.3% less likely to own a house if the house is near retail store Negative impacts of retail store on home ownership may be

generally attributed to noise and visual intrusion Iman, Pieng & Gan

(2012) revealed that the project location must also have good access to

other facilities such as business areas, recreational areas, learning

institutions, hospital and centre Favorable locational attributes

generally refer to accessibility to central business district, shopping

centers, schools, transportation centers (Gibson, 2007; Potter &

Cantarero, 2006; Tan, 2011), recreational parks (Tan, 2012) and the location of the home to friends and relatives (Sidi, 2010) Teck-Hong (2012) study which used data from the Greater KL of Malaysia showed

that the distance to retailing center, to the hospital, and to sport centers are statistically and insignificantly related to housing satisfaction

However, Mohd Thas Thaker & Chandra Sakaran (2016) contend that a majority of the residents prefer if places such as cinema, university,

shopping complex are located within the living area as they are not

interested to consume time for travelling purposes On the other hand, Luttik (2000) postulates that location near to recreational park and green are much preferable by households and the community Similarly, Tan

(2012) stated that the distance to recreational parks was a

home-ownership consideration when buying a house According to Wong, Hui,

Ko & Chung (2009), the elderly also prefer housing which is ‘close to hospital’ and it is found that this preference is strongly correlated with health status Being close to a hospital enables the carer to quickly send the elderly to hospital, thereby increasing the chance of survival In the context of Australia, Ratchatakulpat, Miller & Marchant (2009) stipulated

that live in prospective purchasers are also more interested in a good suburb with an attractive area, security and less noise This tendency can be observed from Iman, Pieng & Gan (2012), proximity to city centre

is less important than other locational attributes In fact, project location

can be equally attractive even if it lacks proximity to the city centre so long as there are ample job opportunities in the nearby areas and has good access to main roads that connect various major population centres

or destinations However, as for single working people, they would prefer

central locations with better access to services, job opportunities, and cultural offers (Ricardo et al, 2010) Similarly, study by Karten (2007) supposed that daily activity patterns and commuting time are one of the main reasons for middle-income households to stay in the city The

finding of Wu & Zhao (2014) study is consistent with the findings of some