According to Lao Dong, many shophouse premises at the base of Hanoi apartment buildings in districts such as Thanh Xuan, Cau Giay, Hoang Mai (Hanoi) have recently fallen into a state of stagnation as they have to leave their stalls empty and continuously hang up signs for rent.
Mr. Nguyen Van Minh (45 years old, living in an apartment building in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi) shared that since the beginning of 2024, many shophouses in the apartment building's base have been moving, hanging transfer signs with prices of billions of dong.
"The rent is expensive, many food shops, coffee shops, offices, and furniture stores here only last a few months before changing owners and hanging up for rent signs. The situation of old customers continuously withdrawing but new tenants are absent has made the shophouse block at the base of the apartment building almost empty for the past few months" - Mr. Minh described.
Also posting an ad for a shophouse in the apartment building's basement, Ms. Le Thi Nguyet (living in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi) also confessed that it is very difficult to find tenants at this time. Meanwhile, the rental price of a shophouse here is still fluctuating around 25 - 35 million VND/unit/month, depending on the area.
Referring to this content, Mr. Nguyen The Diep - Vice President of Hanoi Real Estate Club - commented that the shophouse floor area of the apartment building only has real potential when it achieves factors such as the project has the ability to fill up quickly, good utility services, has a large enough internal residential community and has smooth connections, attracting the residential community outside the project.
Analysts say that to solve the problem of vacant space, investors need to have a well-planned tenant portfolio strategy, ensuring a balance between consumer shopping and entertainment groups, and meeting market demand to attract tenants.
Meanwhile, according to Ms. Trang Bui - General Director of Cushman & Wakefield, besides the reasons of price, fierce competition from modern shopping malls, supermarkets, online sales with outstanding utilities is also part of the reason why the land of townhouses, shophouses and apartments is increasingly "depreciating", no longer the top priority of big brands.
Many real estate experts believe that it is obvious that commercial podiums and apartment shophouses are vacant at this time because all expenses and costs are increasing, making it difficult for business and service operators; forcing them to return many premises and business locations if they do not bring long-term profits.
