HCM CITY — There is a new segment in the property market in and around HCM City: burial grounds.

There are advertisements with offers of 15-20 per cent profits, and in some areas even 100-120 per cent, for investors buying a share of a cemetery, usually in places situated 20-40 km from the city.

They include the 50ha Sala Garden Cemetery in Long Thành District of Đồng Nai Province, the 6ha Sài Gòn – Thiên Phúc Cemetery in Long An Province’s Cần Giuộc District, the 200ha Hoa Viên Cemetery in Bình Dương Province’s Bến Cát District, and the 18ha Phúc An Viên Cemetery in HCM City’s District 9.

The prices families have to pay to get a piece of land in these cemeteries to bury their loved ones are high. For instance, a 4.5 square metre burial plot at Sài Gòn Thiên Phúc costs VNĐ118 million – 186 million (US5,200 - 8,260), or VNĐ33.7 million per square metre.

A family burial site measuring 68-90sq.m at Thiên Gia Phúc Cemetery costs VNĐ1.6-2.3 billion ($82,500).

The rates have been increasing by 15-20 per cent a year, according to a report by Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Sài Gòn) newspaper.

The ‘cemetery park’ model is popular with affluent families, who are willing to pay 2-3 billion đồng (US$130,000) for a burial site since the common belief is that dead people who get a nice burial site will shower their blessings on their descendants, Nguyễn An Bình, an agent selling burial sites in HCM City, said.

Nguyễn Văn Khuân of Bến Lức District in Long An Province, another burial site broker, said in the last five years people have been investing increasingly in cemetery parks.

Mai Thị Mơ, a property broker in HCM City’s District 9, said it is difficult for investors to earn profits in the short term from cemeteries.

That is why developers promise profits of 100-120 per cent in four or five years, she said.

“These are higher than the profits investors can earn from other asset classes.” — VNS