Shophouses are rented out as warehouses
According to Lao Dong, along Me Linh Street (Da Nang City), a series of shophouses with 3-4 floors are still vacant and closed. The shophouses with completed furniture, worth nearly ten billion VND, used to be the dream of many investors but are now hanging signs for rent, for sale, and used as student accommodation.
A resident living on Me Linh street said that many homeowners here have asked her to look after them and rent them out at very "soft" prices, so they can freely choose according to their needs. The rough house is only about 5 million VND/month, while many townhouses have completed the interior and installed elevators, the rental price is about 15 million VND/month, depending on the location.
In order to save costs, in recent times, many students at universities and colleges in Da Nang City have also chosen to rent vacant shophouses as accommodation, convenient for living.
The townhouses are rented by groups of students with a total of 5-6 rooms with prices ranging from 2.5-3 million VND/room/month. If they want to reduce costs, many students here will invite friends to live together.
The shophouse segment is entering the re-evaluation phase
Data from DKRA in the second quarter of 2025, the resort townhouse/shophouse segment, data shows a significant increase in supply with 3,525 units, up 16% over the same period last year. However, the consumption rate is extremely low, reaching only 42 units (equivalent to 1%) with the absorption rate almost the lowest in the entire segment today.
The supply of resort townhouses/shophouses is most concentrated in Tuyen Quang (5%), Gia Lai (15%), Khanh Hoa (10%) and Lam Dong (29%), reflecting the strategy of opening for sale in new markets or restructuring inventories in provinces with developed tourism but weak liquidity.
Notably, primary prices also have a significant differentiation, the type of resort villas recorded the highest price belongs to the South (155.7 million VND/m2), followed by the Central region (134.4 million VND/m2) and the North (106 million VND/m2).
According to real estate expert Do Thu Hang, many townhouse projects have recently developed widely, not carefully calculating market demand, not all products with shophouse labels are good investment opportunities.
In the current context, experts say that the shophouse segment is entering the re-evaluation stage. The market has shifted from speculative psychology to the requirement of real mining efficiency. Investors no longer accept buying for that purpose but need to clearly state cash flow, legality and operational capability.
Dr. Tran Xuan Luong - Deputy Director of the Vietnam Institute for Real Estate Market Research and Evaluation - commented that commercial townhouses are "paying the price" for the previous hot growth period.
Notably, the development of e-commerce has also changed consumer habits, causing physical business space to gradually lose its advantage.
In addition, according to experts, shophouses are facing unclear legal problems. Many investors mistakenly believe that shophouses can be owned for as long as houses, while most of them are only valid for 50 years. High operating costs, no stable cash flow, make this type quickly a burden
For individual investors who are stuck in capital, Mr. Luong recommends proactively restructuring their portfolios, avoiding mixed expectations and not investing all their eggs in one basket. The longer the products are held, the more they lose value, if they cannot create cash flow, investors should consider liquidating early to limit damage.
