High-end segment dominates the market
The supply of the real estate market in Ho Chi Minh City is forecast to increase sharply after merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, but the increase in this supply still shows signs of "deadly shifting" when high-end products continue to "account for the wave".
The newly published real estate market report for the first half of 2025 by Savills shows that Ho Chi Minh City continues to face a shortage of housing supply. According to statistics from Savills, Ho Chi Minh City aims to develop about 235,000 new houses in the period of 2021-2025. However, so far only 24% has been implemented, corresponding to a shortage of 179,000 units.
Previously, in the first quarter of 2025, Ho Chi Minh City recorded 800 new apartments for sale, down 70% compared to the previous quarter, with the Class C housing segment (under 50 million VND/m2) accounting for only 13% of total supply.
The market research results of consulting firm Avison Young Vietnam show that in the second quarter of 2025, the selling price of apartments in Ho Chi Minh City will fluctuate between 84-135 million VND/m2, the lowest level is about 55 million VND/m2. Primary selling prices (investors offering) continue to increase by 4-6% for new projects and 2-4% for projects under implementation. The market has not seen any projects with a selling price of around 40 million VND/m2.
Worryingly, from 2021 to now, statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA) show that there are no new projects providing affordable commercial housing (under 30 million VND/m2), and the social housing segment is also in short supply. On the contrary, the market is being "overwhelmed" by the high-end housing segment.
In 2024 and the first 6 months of 2025, all housing projects launched to raise capital in the market are in the high-end segment. There are no more projects in the low-cost commercial housing or mid-range housing segment, leading to a serious market imbalance.
The Ho Chi Minh City housing market is developing according to the "upside-down self-dug iron" model, focusing only on the high-end segment while the large platform is the mid- and low-end segment, which is almost empty, HoRea's report stated.
Many projects are still stuck in legal problems
Forecasting the supply in the coming time, Ms. Giang Huynh - Director of Research and S22M, Savills Vietnam - said that it is expected that there will be about 8,000 new apartments for sale in Ho Chi Minh City in the second half of the year. However, most of the supply is still concentrated in the mid-range segment, that is, class B apartments. This shows that housing in the city is mainly oriented towards the mid-range and high-end segments; affordable housing continues to be lacking.
The biggest legal factor hindering the development of housing supply is the prolonged procedures for project approval and difficulties in implementing existing projects. In the next 6-12 months, it is necessary to prioritize handling problems in determining land use costs and planning approval procedures, so that investors can quickly implement projects and bring products to the market," Ms. Giang suggested a solution.
According to Mr. Le Hoang Chau - Chairman of HoREA, in Ho Chi Minh City, although the housing supply has increased, prices are still anchored at a very high level. Therefore, the city needs to consider solutions under its authority to remove obstacles for social housing businesses, in order to achieve the goal of developing 100,000 social housing apartments in the period of 2021-2030, while promoting the real estate market to develop safely, healthily and sustainably. The President of HoREA said that promoting the implementation of social housing projects not only contributes to increasing housing supply and adjusting product structure, but also creates room to reduce housing prices.
At the same time, the City needs to assign the Department of Construction to preside over and coordinate with relevant departments and branches to urgently review about 220 projects that are stuck in legal issues, and at the same time propose solutions to handle 68 commercial housing projects that have been stopped or not yet implemented in the area... to be able to soon re-implement and supplement the supply of products to the market.
