Great pressure on investors using financial leverage
The apartment market is recording a noteworthy development as apartment prices increase sharply but liquidity sharply decreases due to signs of investment capital withdrawal, and buyers become more cautious in the face of interest rate pressure and market risks.
According to a recent report by One Mount Group, the Hanoi real estate market has significantly slowed down after a period of hot growth. This unit recorded a total market transaction volume of about 11,100 products in the first quarter of 2026, including residential land and apartments, down 50% compared to the previous quarter and down 12% compared to the same period last year.
Notably, the apartment segment recorded about 4,000 transfer transactions, down 60% quarterly and down 26% year-on-year.
The Ho Chi Minh City market recorded about 3,700 new apartments for sale in the first quarter of 2026, down 75% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025.
According to One Mount Group, the strong quarterly decline reflects seasonal factors and cautious psychology of buyers after Tet. Meanwhile, the year-on-year decrease shows that investment cash flow is increasingly cautious in the face of macroeconomic factors such as interest rates, inflation and geopolitical risks.
This development was also recorded in the report of the Ministry of Construction. According to this agency, the whole country had more than 139,800 real estate transactions in the first quarter, down nearly 8% compared to the end of last year. The apartment and detached house segment alone recorded about 30,850 transactions, down nearly 19% quarter-on-quarter.
Ms. Nguyen Ly Ly - Market Research Manager at Cushman & Wakefield - said that the liquidity of the apartment market is decreasing in the context of new supply and a sharp increase in the number of products to be delivered.
According to Ms. Ly, in the period 2026-2028, Hanoi is expected to have more than 28,000 products handed over to homebuyers. The simultaneous appearance of large supply while liquidity slows down will create significant pressure on the group of investors using financial leverage.
This group is facing high capital costs to maintain assets, and at the same time has to compete with new shopping baskets with attractive sales policies and many incentives from investors" - Ms. Ly assessed.
Experts from Cushman & Wakefield added that in the next two years, Hanoi may welcome more than 68,000 new apartments with a strong trend of shifting to the downtown area. Large supply will create clear downward pressure on speculative products, heavily dependent on price increase expectations in infrastructure-developing areas.
The cautious sentiment of buyers may continue to be maintained in the coming time due to interest rate fluctuations and the expectation that the market will have more reasonable price adjustments," she said.
Cautious investor sentiment
Mr. Tran Van Hung - a real estate broker in Hanoi, said that the current market is very different from the hot period of 2024-2025.
According to Mr. Hung, previously many investors were willing to spend money as soon as the project opened for sale with the expectation of "surfing" to earn a difference in a few months. However, currently the number of investors has decreased very sharply, especially the group using bank loans.
There are apartments that previously only needed to be put up for sale for a few days to have customers deposit, but now hanging for a whole month is still difficult to transact. Apartment prices are still high, but buyers no longer accept paying easily and closing quickly as before," Mr. Hung said.
According to this broker, the average apartment price in Hanoi has increased too quickly in the past two years, causing the investment profit margin to narrow. Meanwhile, the pressure of loan interest, financial costs and new supply continuously coming to the market makes many investors choose to recover cash flow instead of continuing to "hold goods".
Mr. Hung said that the market is entering a stronger screening phase, in which products with real housing needs, good locations, and complete legal status still maintain liquidity, while apartments that are pushed too high or located in unsynchronized development areas will be under clearer adjustment pressure in the coming time.
