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Gladia Heights Review 2026: Keppel–Khang Dien apartments next to Thu Thiem (price, layouts, payment, vs Palm River)

Chris Phuong · 7 years at CBRE VietnamUpdated 18/09/202613 min readDeveloper price, before VAT

Gladia Heights is a three-tower, 616-apartment project (plus 23 shophouses) by the joint venture of Keppel (Singapore) and Khang Dien, fronting Vo Chi Cong street in Binh Trung Dong ward, Thu Duc City, inside a 60-hectare integrated township with water on three sides next to Thu Thiem. It launched on 1 August 2026 with more than 90% of the first release booked (about VND 4,000 billion). Official prices start at roughly VND 83 million per sqm for the shell-handover tower and VND 91 million per sqm for the fitted towers, measured on gross floor area and before VAT. Handover is scheduled for Q1 2028. It is one of the few projects in the east where foreigners may own and where a bank guarantee is already in place.

September 2026 update for foreign buyers: price gap, quota, legal file, Metro 6

As of 18 September 2026 the foreign quota is open in all three towers, the developer’s website lists handover in Q4 2027, and resale asking prices on batdongsan.com.vn sit at 81.7 to 93.5 million VND per sqm, which is 43% below the cheapest listing at The Nassim in Thao Dien and 62% below the cheapest at Empire City in Thu Thiem. The rest of this section is what changed or what I could verify since the review was first published on 10 September 2026.

How the price compares with Thao Dien and Thu Thiem

That gap is the whole investment case. The question a buyer has to answer is whether Binh Trung closes part of it by handover, or whether the gap exists for reasons that will not change. The two items that decide it are the Vo Chi Cong road works and Metro Line 6, both below.

Quota and price list for foreign passports

I checked the foreign quota with the developer’s sales team on 18 September 2026: open in B1, B2 and B3. At this price level next to Thu Thiem the foreign allocation in the best-selling tower usually fills before the Vietnamese one, so a foreign buyer who wants a specific stack should not wait. The price list for foreign buyers can differ from the Vietnamese list, and bank support differs by passport; message me and I will send the current foreign-buyer sheet for the tower you want.

Legal milestones I could verify, with dates

On handover: the developer’s website (khangdien.com.vn) lists Q4 2027, while the phase-1 sales policy quoted in this review referenced Q1 2028. Two agent websites in English print 2028. Sign against the date in your sale and purchase agreement and read the late-delivery clause; that is the only date with a penalty attached.

Metro Line 6: a plan, not a line

The metro the brochure refers to is Metro Line 6, the planned 53.8 km ring line. Its first 23 km section from Tan Son Nhat airport to Phu Huu passes through Binh Trung ward, and the city was aiming to approve the alignment in June 2026 and start construction at the end of 2026 (Tuoi Tre, 7 June 2026). As of September 2026 there is no station location, no contractor and no opening date. Treat it as upside and give it zero weight in the price you pay today.

Container traffic on Vo Chi Cong: the risk that decides the discount

Tuoi Tre reported on 23 July 2026 that the 13 km road carries a large daily volume of container trucks and is regularly overloaded, worst at the My Thuy interchange. The city’s answer is a widening from 6 to 12 lanes on the Phu My Bridge to Phu Huu Bridge section, budgeted at about 5,500 billion VND and listed as a priority through 2030, plus a separate 8,700 billion VND inter-port road to pull trucks off the arterial onto Ring Road 3 and the Long Thanh expressway. If both are built, the corridor changes character. If they slip, you own a riverside apartment on a truck route, and the 2030 horizon sits two to three years after handover.

What I am seeing from buyers

Between the 1 August 2026 sales event and mid-September, the 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom types are the ones moving. The two questions I get most are the current payment policy, which I send on request because it changes between phases, and what happens to the area. My answer on the area: Binh Trung and the Cat Lai belt are the city’s logistics core inside the urban boundary, and the natural tenant here is the well-paid manager or engineer at the port cluster, the shipping lines and the logistics operators, not the District 1 banker. Phase-1 pricing is the best entry this project will offer; the phase you buy in matters more than the floor.

One unit I can offer today: 2-bedroom, 71.35 sqm gross, mid floor of Tower B2, fitted handover, 8 billion VND all-in.

Gladia Heights at a glance

Location: Vo Chi Cong frontage, water on three sides, next to Thu Thiem

Gladia Heights sits on Vo Chi Cong, a road planned for widening to 12 lanes that links Thu Thiem directly with the eastern districts and the Long Thanh, Dau Giay expressway. Around the site several road projects are under way: Ring Road 2, Ring Road 3, the An Phu interchange, the My Thuy interchange and a planned metro line. The developer states about 15 minutes to Ba Son bridge and 20 minutes to Ben Thanh market. What matters more than distance is the setting: the project sits inside a 60 ha integrated township with water on three sides, planned together with schools, healthcare, retail, parks and a public square, rather than a single tower dropped into an older neighbourhood.

The angle few reviews mention: Vietnam’s largest port cluster next door, and the tenant base that comes with it

Gladia Heights sits a few kilometres from the Cat Lai and Phu Huu port cluster. Cat Lai is the largest container port in Vietnam: the Saigon Newport system handled 11.4 million TEU in 2025, and Cat Lai alone accounts for close to half of national container volume and over 90% of import and export containers for Ho Chi Minh City. This is the cargo hub of the city and it will keep running for decades: goods from Cai Mep, Thi Vai, Can Gio and the industrial parks of the southeast all pass through here. For owner-occupiers the container traffic reads as a drawback, which is exactly why the land here is priced lower than comparable riverside land closer to the centre.

• Who rents around here: managers and specialists from shipping lines, freight forwarders, Saigon Newport and terminal operators; engineers and plant managers at the Saigon Hi-Tech Park (Samsung, Intel, Nidec), Cat Lai industrial park and the Nhon Trach parks across the river; the Korean, Japanese, Singaporean and Taiwanese communities working in the supply chain. They sign one to three year leases with budgets of VND 20 to 35 million a month for a two-bedroom, want to live near work, and expect Singapore-standard building management, which the area around the port has not had until now.
• Infrastructure is separating trucks from city streets: the four-level My Thuy interchange (completing 2026), the VND 8,782 billion Cat Lai to Phu Huu inter-port road connecting straight to Ring Road 3 and the expressway (started 2026, expected 2029), and the proposed widening of Vo Chi Cong from 6 to 12 lanes (about VND 5,500 billion).
• Long Thanh airport (2026) plus Cat Lai: for the first time Ho Chi Minh City has both its largest seaport and a new international airport within 40 minutes of the same neighbourhood. Port plus airport is the pattern that creates a professional tenant base in every Asian port city.

Developing countries have already shown this: high-end housing next to a working port keeps appreciating once infrastructure pulls freight out of the urban grid. Shekou, Shenzhen (China): the China Merchants container terminal still operates, and right beside it Sea World and Prince Bay hold the most expensive apartments in western Shenzhen, filled by port and technology professionals on long leases. Pantai Indah Kapuk and Kelapa Gading, Jakarta (Indonesia): next to Tanjung Priok, Indonesia’s largest port, these went from industrial fringe to expat and business districts once a dedicated freight expressway opened. Kharghar and Ulwe, Navi Mumbai (India): beside JNPT port, repriced sharply in 2023 to 2025 after the Atal Setu bridge and the new Navi Mumbai airport, the closest parallel to Cat Lai plus Long Thanh. Bang Na, Bangkok (Thailand): the corridor toward Laem Chabang, where supply-chain staff became the most durable tenant group.

Applied to Gladia Heights: first, the 2BS and 2BL layouts (64 to 77 sqm net) target logistics and manufacturing professionals, with the highest rental liquidity and the lowest entry price. Second, buy with a horizon of at least three years to sit through the 2026 to 2029 infrastructure cycle, when containers leave Vo Chi Cong. Third, prefer river-facing or inward-facing units. Fourth, if you are a foreigner working at the port, the hi-tech park or Nhon Trach, this is a rare project within 15 minutes that you may own and that carries Keppel standards.

Chris’s view

The four port districts above share one pattern: home prices rose after the inter-port road opened, not before. For Gladia the date to watch is the Cat Lai to Phu Huu inter-port road (VND 8,782 billion, 2026 to 2029).

I have stood on Vo Chi Cong at 5pm: the container queue is still there. That is a real drawback until 2029, and it is the reason phase-1 prices sit 40 to 50% below Thu Thiem.

The wider masterplan: Gladia by the Waters, 11.8 ha

Gladia Heights is the high-rise phase of Gladia by the Waters, an 11.8 ha development that also holds 226 villas and townhouses sold in 2025. Of those 11.8 ha, up to 9 ha go to landscape, infrastructure and amenities: five themed parks, a riverside promenade and a 2 km running and cycling loop around the site. The apartment block occupies only 1.26 ha, yet residents share the full landscape of the low-rise phase, which gives a green area per resident that is rare in an apartment project.

The developers: Keppel and Khang Dien, two complementary track records

• Keppel (Singapore): more than 30 years in Vietnam with Saigon Centre, The Estella, Estella Heights, Riviera Point and Celesta, a name buyers remember for build quality and resale price after handover.
• Khang Dien: a domestic developer known in the east for clean legal files and on-time handover (Lovera, Jamila, Safira). The joint venture was formed after the success of the low-rise Gladia by the Waters. All three towers hold BCA Green Mark Gold, the green building certification of Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority, which means lower running costs for electricity and water and a better rental proposition with foreign tenants.

Scale, density and how the three towers are arranged

616 apartments sit on 1.26 ha, a dense footprint if read alone, but it should be read together with the 9 ha of shared landscape. The design difference is the detached and semi-detached apartment: each unit shares a wall with at most one neighbour, with the other three sides opening outward, so the home is brighter and better ventilated than a unit sandwiched between two others. According to the developer about 70% of apartments have a river view; every unit of two bedrooms or more has its own balcony and drying yard. Each tower has a private lobby, and amenities are doubled (two clubhouses, two pools) so residents are not funnelled into one place.

Floor plans and layouts: about 90% net-to-gross efficiency

The table below comes from the official brochure. Net to gross efficiency at Gladia Heights runs at 89 to 92%, above the 85 to 88% common in high-end Ho Chi Minh City apartments, which means a buyer pays for less wall and gets more usable floor.

My professional read: the 2BS (64 sqm net) is the easiest unit to rent and resell, priced for single professionals or couples working in Thu Thiem, and the lowest entry point among two-bedroom units. The 3BL-a and 3BL-b (113 to 114 sqm net) suit families with children at the international schools within 15 minutes. Every unit has a flexible plus-one space that works as a study, a homework room or staff quarters.

Amenities: 60+ facilities doubled across two clusters

• Galaxy pool and Starlight pool with underwater audio: two separate swimming experiences
• Floating jacuzzi over the pool, rainfall canopy, footbridge with mist effect
• Two clubhouses: gym, yoga, function room, multimedia room, private reception lobby per tower
• Reflexology path, five themed parks, a 2 km riverside running and cycling loop
• 100% backup power for the whole building, EV charging in the basement, private lift lobby per tower

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Gladia Heights pricing

Official prices published by the developer at the launch on 1 August 2026, before VAT, measured on gross area, varying by floor and view (river and villa views sit higher):

For context within a 5 km radius: Thu Thiem trades around USD 10,000 per sqm and Thao Dien at USD 6,000 to 8,000. At roughly USD 3,300 to 3,600 per sqm gross before VAT, Gladia Heights sits about 10 to 20% below neighbouring projects of comparable international-developer standard. That is why over 90% of the first release went in under four hours. For the remaining units and the next release, message me for a current price list by unit.

Gladia Heights vs Palm River: which one in the east?

The two projects are about 3 km apart and chase the same pool of owner-occupiers and rental investors in the east, but they are positioned differently:

How I read this table: Gladia Heights wins on price per usable sqm and on landscape planning; Palm River wins on low density and on the sports and metro story. If your budget is VND 7 to 9 billion for a two-bedroom and you want to buy at the published price of an international developer, Gladia is the safer choice. Read the full Palm River review for the other side.

Payment terms

• Sign the sale and purchase agreement at 10% and hold that level until handover (expected Q1 2028)
• Bank loans up to 75% with VietinBank, BIDV, OCB, MB Bank, Vietcombank and Standard Chartered
• No principal or interest for 24 months from first disbursement, subsidised by the developer
• Foreign buyers: bilingual contract, payment through your own bank account in Vietnam, 50-year ownership renewable once

Chris’s view: who should buy, and two risks to watch

Buy if you are: a family with children at an international school in the east who wants a green setting still 15 to 20 minutes from the centre; a rental investor targeting professionals in logistics, the Cat Lai port, the hi-tech park, the Nhon Trach industrial parks and Thu Thiem, where the 2BS and 2BL units make the most sense; or a foreigner who wants an apartment from a Singapore developer on a project that already carries a VietinBank guarantee.

Two risks to watch. First, until the Cat Lai to Phu Huu inter-port road is finished (expected 2029), Vo Chi Cong still carries container traffic; the 12-lane widening and the metro line are plans, not commitments, and infrastructure that is not built yet is a variable, not a constant. Second, supply in the east through 2026 to 2028 is heavy (Global City, The Privé, Palm River, Eaton Park), so rents may come under pressure in the first year or two after handover. Both risks fall sharply if you buy with a five-year horizon and choose a unit facing the river or the villa precinct.

Want to buy or take over a Gladia Heights unit?

I take resale listings and work with buyers on this project. Send me your budget and preferred layout: within 24 hours you get the developer price list, the units still available by tower and floor, and an honest note on which drawbacks are real.

Or reach me directly: Zalo 0922 797 100 · WhatsApp · read the guide on buying property in Vietnam as a foreigner.

Chris Phuong (Phuong Dat Hoa)

Real estate advisor to foreign buyers in Ho Chi Minh City & Hanoi · 7 years at CBRE Vietnam (personal experience, personal views)

150+ foreign clients advised20 projectsTiếng Việt · English · 中文 · 한국어

About meLinkedInZalo 0922 797 100

Frequently asked questions

Is Gladia Heights a good investment for a foreigner?

It is a location bet. You buy at roughly half of Thao Dien pricing on the promise that the Vo Chi Cong corridor is rebuilt by 2030. If you believe that timeline, the entry price is the lowest you will see for a Keppel-branded building next to Thu Thiem. If you do not, buy in a finished area and pay for certainty.

How much is a 2-bedroom apartment at Gladia Heights?

Between 5.9 and 8.0 billion VND before VAT for 71 to 85 sqm gross, based on the 83 to 94 million VND per sqm phase-1 prices. Add the 2% maintenance fund and VAT, and ask me for the foreign-buyer price list.

Is the foreign quota at Gladia Heights still available?

Yes in all three towers as of 18 September 2026. Foreigners may own up to 30% of the apartments in each building, on a 50-year term that can be extended.

When will Gladia Heights be handed over?

The developer’s website lists Q4 2027; the phase-1 sales policy referenced Q1 2028. The date in your sale and purchase agreement is the one that carries a penalty.

Who are the developers of Gladia Heights?

Keppel of Singapore and Khang Dien of Ho Chi Minh City, in their first apartment project together. The legal seller is Doan Nguyen Housing Investment Co., a Khang Dien subsidiary.

Do I need to be in Vietnam to buy?

No for the reservation and contract signing, which can be done by power of attorney. Yes at some point for the bank account and, later, the ownership certificate. I walk clients through the sequence on WhatsApp.

Read next

Same district

Palm River Review 2026: riverside living next to the future sports hub

Legal guide

Can foreigners buy property in Vietnam? The complete 2026 guide

Resale & rentals

Resale and rental apartments in Ho Chi Minh City, owner prices, legal file checked