Many student housing areas in Hanoi, despite low rents, still have a large number of vacant rooms. Meanwhile, Hanoi City is accelerating the distribution of backlog resettlement housing funds and researching the conversion of some housing funds into social housing.
Low price but difficult to fill
Hanoi Department of Construction has just publicly announced the rental situation and the number of apartments and vacant accommodations in social housing and student housing areas managed by the Hanoi City Housing Management Center in August 2026.
Data from August 1st to August 31st shows that the level of housing fund exploitation between areas has a large difference. Some student housing areas, although renting prices are low, still have many rooms that have not been used.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Phan - Head of Housing Development Department, Hanoi Housing Development Center - said that at Phap Van - Tu Hiep Student Housing Area, the biggest limitation is the location far from the center, and transportation is not really convenient.
The building has 6 buildings, of which 3 buildings have been converted into social housing by the city, and the remaining 3 buildings continue to serve students. One building was once requisitioned as a base for preventing and controlling the COVID-19 epidemic. Currently, the unit is proposing repair costs, expected to be completed by the end of the year to continue welcoming students.
At My Dinh Student Housing Area on Le Duc Tho street, the number of vacant rooms is also related to the change of study locations. According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Phan, previously the occupancy rate here was about 70-80%, but recently the number of students has decreased due to Hanoi National University moving its campus and bringing students to Lang - Hoa Lac.
At Don Nguyen 4 building, the social housing dormitory for students in My Dinh 1, the current room rental price is about 393,000 VND/month. Students pay for the room 6 months/time, deposit 1 month. Electricity costs are about 100,000 VND/month, air conditioning 150,000 VND and internet 50,000 VND.
Although the rental price is low, the number of vacant rooms here still accounts for more than half of the total number of rooms. The main reason recorded is the relocation of training facilities of schools.
The reality of student accommodation choices also shows that distance and traffic are important factors. Student Pham Dinh Dung, from Hung Yen, a new student at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, chooses to share accommodation with 8 people at a cost of about 640,000 VND/person/month. The distance to school is about 5-6km and can be traveled by bus.
Meanwhile, student Hoang Phuong Hoa, 2nd year student at the University of Public Health, said that the room type for 4 people, with air conditioning and washing machine, has a total cost of about 6-7 million VND/month. Divided equally for 4 people, the cost per person is significantly reduced.
Hundreds of resettlement apartments handed over
Along with the student housing fund, Hanoi is continuing to handle the backlog of resettlement apartments.
According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Phan, in the past, the distribution of resettlement housing funds was slow, partly due to mechanism problems. When house prices had not increased sharply, many households in the land clearance area prioritized receiving compensation money instead of receiving houses, leading to a surplus of apartments.
About 2 years ago, when house prices increased, many households switched to choosing to receive resettlement housing. Along with that, investment projects were launched, contributing to bringing people to live in residential areas.
Since the beginning of the year, the Hanoi Housing Development Center has sold and handed over about 600-700 apartments. It is expected that by the end of the year, the number of vacant apartments will be basically resolved; in early 2027, about 80-90% of the housing fund will be distributed.
Another solution is to study converting some resettlement housing funds into social housing, serving site clearance work.
According to provided data, Hanoi currently has more than 200 resettlement buildings. Hanoi Housing Development Center directly manages 58 buildings, and about 150 remaining buildings are managed by Hanoi Housing Management and Development Company.
Reality shows that the efficiency of exploiting the public housing fund depends on location, transportation, educational institution planning, compensation mechanisms and project progress. Publicizing data on apartments and leased and vacant places is the basis for management agencies to evaluate exploitation efficiency, thereby having appropriate plans for repair, distribution or functional conversion.
