Nearly 4 months ago, Ms. Nguyen Hong Khanh (office worker) looked to buy an apartment around Hapulico area, Thanh Xuan district. In this area, there are buildings that were handed over nearly ten years ago.
Due to low finances, Ms. Khanh aimed at old apartment buildings, handed over about 4-5 years ago. However, within nearly a month of searching, she was continuously "shocked" because apartment prices increased beyond imagination.
“At the time I asked to buy an apartment in Thanh Xuan Complex - Thanh Xuan district, it was being advertised for sale at 47 million VND/m2. However, after 1 month, the new advertised price was 53-56 million VND/m2.
Brokers said that the price increase is due to the scarcity of supply. At this time, there are only real buyers and very few investors in apartments," said Ms. Khanh.
After discussing and agreeing with the whole family to buy, and reporting to the broker, Ms. Khanh received news that the 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment with an area of 98 square meters, the owner wanted to collect nearly 5.6 billion VND, equivalent to a price of 57 million VND/square meter.
“Thus, in less than a week, the apartment for sale has increased by nearly 200 million VND. This increase is no less than the land fever at the end of 2021 - beginning of 2022” - Ms. Khanh shared.
According to the reporter's investigation, not only this apartment building, other projects such as Home City, Five Star, Hanoi Center Point, Mipec Cau Giay... are also being advertised for sale at skyrocketing prices. It can be seen that the continuous increase in apartment prices in a short period of time only occurs locally in some central districts such as Cau Giay, Thanh Xuan, not the general picture of the entire Hanoi apartment market.
However, home buyers are still put in a difficult position when apartments are being advertised at many different prices, making it difficult to determine the real price.
Mr. Nguyen Hung - an apartment broker in Thanh Xuan district, said that partly due to the scarce supply, there are not many apartments in projects that have been handed over for 4-5 years. Therefore, the owners offer higher prices than the general level.
Mr. Hung said that it is not uncommon for a house to be advertised for sale at many different prices on the market. The reason is that many brokers have pre-agreed with the homeowner on the price they will receive. The brokers will then advertise the house at their own price.
Brokers even increase prices so high that they will lower them during negotiations, which plays into the psychology of buyers who get a big discount and will pay immediately. Therefore, home buyers at any time need to carefully check prices from reliable sources before paying.
The latest research data from the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARS) shows that Vietnam has about 100,000 active brokers working officially at professional business organizations. Of these, only about 40,000 individuals participating in activities have real estate brokerage practice certificates.
Most brokers are freelancers, "amateurs", "side-jobs", untrained, without professional knowledge, operating spontaneously, not under the management of any agency.
This also poses potential instability for the real estate market because some brokers only focus on "closing deals" without caring about customer benefits.
