Planning to move from an apartment to a ground-level house, Ms. Vu Dinh Nghia and her husband (Hai Ba Trung ward, Hanoi) have been searching continuously for more than 3 months but have not found a satisfactory house.
In addition to the accumulated amount of 500 million VND and the 100m2 apartment currently priced at 7 billion VND, Mr. Nghia and his wife are still struggling on the journey to "hunt for a house".
"In the end, the couple still had to borrow more from the bank or sell less gold to have enough money to buy a house of more than 50 square meters. In addition to my wife and I, my two children and grandparents live together, so we want a spacious house with long-term settlement" - Mr. Nghia said.
According to a survey by reporters, houses in alleys reaching 10 billion VND are often located in areas 8-16km from the city center such as Ha Dong, Hai Ba Trung, Nam Tu Liem, Hoang Mai, ...
A typical example is a 51m2 house in an alley, 3.5m frontage, located in Yen Nghia ward, Ha Dong, advertised for sale at 9.9 billion VND, equivalent to more than 194 million VND/m2. The house has 5 floors and 5 bedrooms, fully decorated with furniture, red book/pink book.
This price has also increased by 25.4%, equivalent to a profit of more than 2.5 billion VND after 1 year. Some other areas such as Dong Da and Long Bien have a "softer" price for houses in alleys with an area of over 50m2, ranging from 7-9 billion VND.
Not only Mr. Nghia's family, Mr. Tran Quang Nam (Hoang Mai, Hanoi) and his wife also fell into a similar situation when looking to buy a house in an alley with a budget of about 6 billion VND.
"I have seen nearly 20 houses in two months, from Hoang Mai to Thanh Xuan and Nam Tu Liem. However, most of the houses in my price range are located deep in alleys, difficult for cars to access or the construction quality is not as advertised. The houses that are a bit satisfactory are being "priced" by the owners for 9-10 billion VND, beyond the family's ability" - Mr. Nam shared.
According to Mr. Nam, what makes it most difficult for buyers of houses in alleys today is the price difference between areas. The same area is about 50m2, but if in the center or in a wide alley, the price can be billions of dong higher than houses in small alleys with poor infrastructure. " there is a limit in finance, but the demand and criteria are clear, so it is difficult to balance," he said.
Ms. Minh Thu - an apartment and residential real estate broker in Hanoi - commented that buying a house now depends on the buyer, how much finances they accumulate, what criteria to choose a house to find a house as desired.
"The average price for an area of 50m2 or more is almost no less than 5 billion VND. If there are buyers, they have to accept living in deep alleys. However, houses in alleys are now also invested in with amenities, meeting the aesthetic psychology of buyers" - Ms. Yen said.
Forecasting the price of the alley house segment in the coming years, Mr. Nguyen The Diep - Vice President of Hanoi Real Estate Club commented that currently, land prices are high, converting land use purposes is difficult, many projects are slow, so it is very difficult for prices to be adjusted down immediately.
However, in the long term, Mr. Diep hopes that related policies will gradually be resolved, reformed, administrative procedures shortened, etc. land prices will be stable, no longer causing unusual spikes. When many social housing projects are born, buyers will have more options to help the market balance and move towards sustainable development.
