The end of the lunar year is often the time when the real estate market records an increase in consumer interest and demand.
In particular, the mentality of "buying land at the beginning of the year, buying a house at the end of the year" and the fact that many people have more abundant income (from salary, Tet bonus) are the leading factors driving the demand for "buying a house for Tet".
According to data from Batdongsan.com.vn, apartment prices in Hanoi increased by 58% in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter of 2023. This partly reflects the increase in demand at the end of the year.
In recent days, Ms. Vu Thi Thanh Xuan (42 years old, from Bac Giang) started going online to search for projects to buy a house in Hanoi.
Ms. Xuan shared that new apartment projects are very rare at this time, most projects will not be delivered until the end of 2025 or 2026. There are even projects that will not be handed over until 2027.
After searching, Ms. Xuan was continuously invited by brokers and offered many preferential policies such as low interest rates, high discounts, flexible payments, etc.
“However, my family’s need is to buy a house to live in, not to invest. That’s why I switched to looking for old apartments and houses in alleys,” said Ms. Xuan.
According to Ms. Xuan, with old apartments and houses in alleys, the owners often offer preferential policies such as year-end discounts to get rid of inventory.
Mr. Le Bao Long - Marketing Director of Batdongsan.com.vn - recommends that home buyers at this time should pay attention to price issues (there are incentives but home prices can still be high due to increased demand).
In addition to price, quality (check construction quality, project legality), location (carefully consider location, surrounding amenities), bank interest rates (may change over time) and market updates to make the right decision.
A survey by PV shows that recently, many banks have been launching attractive policies to attract home buyers. Some banks offer extremely "soft" loan interest rates of about 5-6%, however, many of them are only applicable for 3-6 months. After the preferential period ends, the interest rate will be floating.
In fact, there have been many home buyers who have been burdened with debt after the preferential period expired. In many cases, after the floating interest rate increased to 13-14%, the burden was too great, and they had to sell off their assets to pay off the debt.
Given the above reality, according to experts, homebuyers must carefully consider their ability to repay the loan. The safe ratio is that payments do not exceed 30-40% of monthly income. As for investors, this is the right time for a long-term race, without using financial leverage.
Mr. Dinh Minh Tuan - expert of Batdongsan.com.vn - recommends that if buying for living, buyers should pay after the 3 laws come into effect and the market absorbs the new policies. Although the price may be higher, the new regulations will provide better protection and reduce risks for home buyers.
"Absolutely do not buy a house because of crowd psychology, fear of missing out on opportunities, but consider financial matters before making a decision, avoid falling into the interest rate trap, and taking on too much debt" - Mr. Dinh Minh Tuan emphasized.
