Prices increase because the supply is mainly in the high-end segment
Surveying the current selling prices of some real estate projects on the market, it was noted that many luxury apartment projects have established new price levels. In the central area of Ho Chi Minh City (old District 1), some secondary projects reached about 413 million VND/m2. Specifically, the highest price is 450 million VND/m2 at Grand Marina, followed by The Opera Residence 350 million VND/m2, adjacent to The Metropole 250 million VND/m2...
The trend of expanding the center to Thu Thiem is causing the real estate value in this area to lead the growth rate of the whole market in the past year. According to Batdongsan, as of the third quarter of 2025, apartment prices in Thu Thiem and Nam Rach Chiec areas recorded a common price of 80-120 million VND/m2, an increase of 32-48%. This area currently holds more than 60% of the total supply of the city and is mostly high-end products, priced at over 100 million VND/m2.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Anh - Deputy General Director of Batdongsan - said that over the past decade, the real estate market in the city center has witnessed an increase in prices in all segments. In particular, apartments recorded an average increase of 3 times, each m2 from 31 million VND in 2015 to 92 million, only behind the land type (an increase of 4.8 times). The increase in apartment prices in the core area of Ho Chi Minh City also exceeded the increase of 2.3-2.7 times in the townhouse segment (private houses, street-front).
This problem is determined by experts to stem from the scarcity of central land funds and increasing project implementation costs. In that context, investors who own inner-city land funds are forced to prioritize the development of high-end and luxury product lines to ensure profit margins.
Mr. Le Huu Nghia - Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association - said that this is a consequences that have been " speculated" since the period of 2019-2020, when the number of approved projects is counted on the fingers. If the projects are not approved at that time, the obvious consequence is that there will be a serious shortage of supply after 5 years.
"This leads to an alarming reality that projects put on the market sell as much as they want because the market has no competitors, the supply is seriously lacking while demand is still very high. In addition, some people buy but do not need to live because they already have a house, and those who need to live do not have a suitable house to buy," Mr. Nghia stated his opinion.
Housing prices are under great pressure from land costs
Talking to Lao Dong newspaper reporters, Mr. Le Hoang Chau - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association - commented that apartment prices in Ho Chi Minh City are under great pressure from land costs. The main reason is that the formula for determining financial obligations according to the "land price list multiplied by coefficient K" is creating a price that far exceeds real value, forcing businesses to accumulate in selling price.
Mr. Chau gave an example of a 1-hectare plot of land on Nguyen Xien Street, Thu Duc City (old) with a price list of 56.6 million VND/m2. When multiplying coefficient K by 1.4, the land price is calculated at about 80 million VND/m2. However, if priced according to the surplus method - based on project revenue minus construction costs, management, interest and profit - the actual land price is only about 35 million VND/m2. Coefficient K therefore makes land prices twice as high as their real value. At this cost, investors have to sell apartments for over 100 million VND/m2 to break even, leading to unreasonable housing prices.
Mr. Chau said that it is impossible to apply a general adjustment coefficient to all types of land, because the characteristics of commercial real estate projects, high-rise housing or urban areas are completely different from individual housing. Large-scale projects always have a high land use coefficient, low construction density, different investment rates between the affordable - mid-range - high-end segments, so using a fixed coefficient K will distort the real value and have a negative impact on selling prices.
