According to Mr. Minh Hai (from Tam Diep, Ninh Binh, 37 years old), currently residing in a 25m2 rented room in Cau Giay district, Hanoi, with real estate prices increasing rapidly as they are now, he has given up his dream of buying a house. Also according to Mr. Hai, after more than 10 years living in Hanoi with an office job, he realized that there will be a young generation like him who cannot buy a house in Hanoi if prices do not stop. "I am wondering whether to continue to stay in Hanoi or return to my hometown to live," Mr. Hai said.
According to statistics from Savills (the world's leading real estate service provider in Vietnam), in the first 9 months of 2024, 70% of apartments traded in Hanoi were priced above 4 billion VND; the segment from 2 to 4 billion VND accounted for 29% and only 1% of apartments traded were priced below 2 billion VND.
This shows a serious imbalance in the product structure of the apartment segment. After a period of continuous price increases, apartments priced above VND4 billion have become a common price in Hanoi. With VND2-3 billion, people still struggle to find a place to live.
With apartment prices ranging from 50 to 80 million VND/m2, the market has almost no supply of affordable apartments. This price creates heavy financial pressure for people with average and low incomes, making owning a private home extremely difficult because the average salary of workers is usually only around 10-15 million VND/month.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Do Van Thach - CEO of Dova Land (Trung Hoa, Cau Giay, Hanoi) said that with the current "dancing" real estate prices, it is very difficult for workers to buy a house because most of them are salaried workers without extraordinary income. According to Mr. Thach's calculations, a worker who saves 30% of their monthly income (equivalent to 3-4.5 million VND), after 1 year, they can only save about 36-54 million VND. Meanwhile, if you buy a house worth 3 billion VND, you will have to save continuously for 55-83 years to reach this amount, not to mention daily living expenses and the impact of inflation.
In reality, very few workers are able to save enough money to buy a house. Most have to choose to take out a bank loan with a repayment period of 15-25 years. However, this still places an extremely heavy financial burden on them. “Therefore, to make it easier for young people to access housing, the ideal price should only be within 6-10 years of their average income,” said Mr. Thach.
According to real estate experts, the main reason for the increase in real estate prices is mainly due to the high investment costs, high demand while the supply is scarce, causing investors to have higher expectations for profits. Moreover, many people who already own a house want to invest more, so they buy a lot while the housing supply is low.
According to the Vietnam Real Estate Association, the trend of increasing real estate prices is inevitable, but the strong growth in real estate prices in a very short time is unusual.
