With an income of about 50 million VND/month for the couple, Mr. Tran Dai Nghia (Thanh Xuan ward, Hanoi) informed that his family has accumulated about 1 billion VND. However, after many years of starting a business, he and his wife still chose to rent an apartment instead of borrowing from the bank to buy a house. "Every month I pay 11 million VND in rent. Meanwhile, the rented apartment is being offered for sale for about 6 billion VND. If I buy, I will have to borrow an additional 5 billion VND. Bank interest alone is almost equal to a person's income" - Mr. Nghia shared.
According to Mr. Nghia, both husband and wife plan to return to their hometown to live and take care of their parents after they are over 50 years old. "My family still has land left by my grandparents in the hometown. Many people advise selling some land and then buying apartments in installments. But after calculating, even if I sell a part of the land and use an additional 1 billion VND to accumulate, I still have to borrow about 4 billion VND from the bank" - Mr. Nghia said.
Sharing the same view, Ms. Mai Ngoc (Cau Giay ward, Hanoi) admitted: "This is indeed a practical problem that many families in big cities are facing every day" - Ms. Ngoc acknowledged. According to her, the problem of "renting a house or buying a house" has never had a common answer.
In a report on consumer behavior and psychology, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Anh - Deputy General Director of Batdongsan. com. vn - pointed out the main reasons why many households choose to rent houses.
The biggest reason comes from too high house prices. In Hanoi, up to 58% of respondents said they had to rent because they were not able to afford to buy a house. Meanwhile, about 2 years ago, this rate was only above 30%. "High house prices are clearly impacting consumer behavior. Many people are forced to balance their finances and choose to rent a house instead of owning it. This is a very clear reality" - Mr. Quoc Anh said.
The second reason is the flexibility of renting houses. This form helps people easily change their living environment and suit the financial capacity of each household.
Assessing the developments of the real estate market in the past time, Mr. Quoc Anh said that in 2026, prices have been adjusted down by about 10-15%. In the context that the price level may adjust in the short term, but the long-term trend is mainly sideways, the choice of the majority of people, especially young people, will still be renting houses.
This is not a risk but an inevitable trend. In major cities such as Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai or many cities in Europe, most people also choose to rent houses because real estate prices are too high compared to affordability. The nature of the market is that when real estate generates cash flow from leasing activities, the market will operate more sustainably. The worrying thing only appears when real estate cannot be exploited for rent" - Mr. Quoc Anh emphasized.
