Having money but still reluctant to borrow to buy a house
For many months now, Mr. Pham Quoc Anh (28 years old, IT staff) has been continuously looking for apartments in the old Ha Dong area (Hanoi). Having accumulated money, but to buy a suitable apartment, he still has to borrow more from the bank.
What makes him hesitant is the monthly debt repayment. The asking price of some apartments has been softer than before, but according to Quoc Anh, the reduction is not large enough to compensate for the pressure to borrow billions of VND in the long term.
The Ha Dong apartment market currently has a fairly wide price range. Data posted in August 2026 on Batdongsan. com. vn shows that apartments in the old Ha Dong district are commonly offered for sale in the range of more than 47 million VND/m2, depending on the project, location and apartment quality.
With a price of 60 million VND/m2, a 65m2 apartment is already priced at about 3.9 billion VND and Quoc Anh - a buyer with 1.5 billion VND available - will have to bear a loan of up to 2.4 billion VND.
Meanwhile, home loan interest rates have increased compared to some previous low preferential programs. BIDV's "First House" loan package announced from June 2026 applies preferential rates from 9.2-10.3%/year depending on the fixed interest rate period.
With a loan of 2.4 billion VND for 20 years, assuming regular monthly payment at an interest rate of 10%/year, the principal and interest amount is about 23.2 million VND/month. This is a significant expense for a young family that still has to spend money on living expenses, children and contingency plans.
Buyers' hesitation occurred in the context that the market had shown signs of adjustment. CBRE noted that in Q2/2026, secondary apartment prices in Hanoi decreased for the first time since the end of 2022, while the absorption rate was also significantly lower than in the 2024-2025 period.
But the price decrease from a very high floor does not mean that houses have become easy to buy. Batdongsan. com. vn data updated in August shows that apartment sales floors in Hanoi are still commonly around 78.4-88.8 million VND/m2.
Buying a house is still pressured by cash flow
Even young people who have bought a house must carefully calculate the loan. In November 2024, Mr. and Mrs. Xuan Thien (character names have been changed) bought an apartment of nearly 60m2, two bedrooms in An Khanh, Hoai Duc for about 3.2 billion VND.
The couple borrowed 1 billion VND from a bank in the Big4 group with a term of 30 years. The principal and interest repayment is currently nearly 20 million VND/month, while the total family income is about 40 million VND.
At the beginning of 2026, when the family had another baby, the pressure to spend increased even more. Mr. Thien's parents are planning to support about 500 million VND for the couple to reduce the outstanding debt. "My wife and I also want to move to another area in Pham Van Dong, but we don't dare to plan further now" - Mr. Thien shared.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, MSc Ngo Anh Nguyet - Lecturer at the Institute of Banking Science Research, Banking Academy - said that special attention should be paid to the group of home loans that have expired the preferential period and switched to floating interest rates. According to Ms. Nguyet, many loans have fixed interest rates for 6-36 months, then adjusted according to the reference interest rate or base interest rate plus margin.
She gave an example of a loan of 2 billion VND for 20 years, if the interest rate is 8%/year, the amount paid is about 16.7 million VND/month. When the interest rate rises to 13%/year, the debt repayment obligation can increase to about 23.4 million VND/month.
Selling pressure is usually concentrated in cases of using high leverage, low cash flow assets or being bought mainly with the expectation of price increase" - Ms. Nguyet said.
For real buyers, apartment prices are still high, and loan costs are high, so the current reduction is not enough to help many young people easily buy a house.
