High prices but almost no trading
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Tran Mai (owner of Gemex apartment in Hoai Duc, Hanoi) said that he currently has an apartment for sale with an initial expected price of 3 billion VND. After the sale, a few brokers called and said they were willing to pay 5 billion VND and made appointments to see the house and make a deposit. "With that price, I refused other customers because I was afraid that I would lose money. But after waiting for a long time, the people who made appointments to see the house and make a deposit disappeared," said Mr. Tran Mai.
Ms. Le Chi (living in Chelsea Residences apartment building, Cau Giay, Hanoi) said that her family is living in a 130m2 apartment with 3 bedrooms. She bought this apartment in 2021 for 5.3 billion VND. Although she has no need to sell the house, Ms. Chi has continuously received calls from brokers asking to buy the house at a price as high as 12.5 billion VND.
After many times of refusing to sell, recently Ms. Le Chi's family was contacted again by a broker and asked to buy. This time, the broker said that if they were sincere, the price could be increased by 100-200 million VND and there would be customers who would deposit immediately. Seeing the price, her family agreed and calculated that with the money from the sale, they would buy a house in the alley, suitable for the family when the 2 children were grown. "However, I waited for nearly 2 weeks but no broker brought any customers, and no one contacted me again," Ms. Chi said.
Mr. Do Xuan Hop (residing at Chelsea Park 49 Tran Kim Xuyen, Yen Hoa) also said that his apartment building has been in use for nearly 20 years but is still being advertised for sale at 58 million VND/m2.
According to Mr. Tran Tuan - the owner of a 2-bedroom apartment in an apartment building in An Khanh area (Hoai Duc), for many days now he has received phone calls asking to buy a house at a very high price. Suspicious, Mr. Tuan asked some neighbors and was also told that someone called to offer to buy a house at an unusually high price, however, when he called back, the answer was always that he was waiting to arrange with the customer.
Apartments in Hanoi have never had such "virtual" prices as now.
According to Ms. Hoa Dung - Sales and Communications Director of Hoian D'or project - Con Bap Eco-tourism Company Limited, brokers continuously calling homeowners to ask to buy apartments at sky-high prices but not coming, is actually not rare in the market, especially in the current hot apartment market.
According to Ms. Dung, brokers do this to make people think that the apartment is very "hot"; prices increase very quickly so that the owner can stop the sale plan, limiting supply. Besides, the owner can push the price even higher, making the market even "hotter".
On the buyer's side, seeing that all the homeowners are increasing their prices will make them think that if they don't buy quickly, the price will increase further, making it difficult to buy, thereby speeding up the process of paying for the house faster.
Speaking to Lao Dong Newspaper reporters, lawyer Nguyen Ngoc Hung - Director of the Connected Lawyers Office (Hanoi Bar Association) said that the main reason is the investor's trick of inflating prices to manipulate the market, making sellers mistakenly believe that real estate prices are increasing, leading to raising prices of other apartments in the area, creating a virtual "fever" mentality in the market.
Along with that, the psychology of waiting for a reduction or "bargain hunting" from buyers makes many people wait for the right time to buy at a cheaper price or find apartments with preferential prices. And the information disruption makes it impossible for both buyers and sellers to determine the true value of real estate.
Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen The Diep - Member of Vietnam Real Estate Association, Vice President of Hanoi Real Estate Club said that the increase in apartments in the inner city is inevitable because of the increase in supply, while many urban land projects are not implemented. "Therefore, it is necessary to resolve the mechanisms and policies to implement land allocation to investors as quickly as possible to meet supply and demand," said Mr. Diep.
