As a young couple, Mr. Doan Minh Son (Cau Giay, Hanoi) cherished the plan to buy his first house in 2026. With a savings of 1 billion VND, along with support from both families, Mr. Son accepted to borrow more from the bank at preferential interest rates to buy a house early at the beginning of the year.
"I have researched the first home ownership program for young people under the age of 35 and found the interest rates quite reasonable. However, if calculated in the long term, without support from the family, this is still a burden for the couple. On average, the couple has to spend at least 10 million VND/month per month to quickly complete the loan" - Mr. Son said.
According to Mr. Son, at this time, apartment prices are still at a high level. In order to meet the criteria such as location in the inner city, convenient daily living, modern interior, Mr. Son and his wife have looked at the alley house segment.
However, the "sky-high" price of many houses in alleys surprised Mr. Son: "When I actually went to see the house, I saw that the small house was no longer calculated by square meter. The 18m2 Kham Thien house area is for sale at 6.48 billion VND; the 19m2 Truong Dinh house area is for sale at 5.65 billion VND, even the 12m2 Dai La house area is for sale at 5.5 billion VND".
Similarly, Ms. Khuc Van Trang (Dong Da, Hanoi) was tired of going to see nearly 20 houses but still could not find a suitable home. Ms. Trang acknowledged: "The price is high but the important thing is whether there is a buyer or not. Spending 5-7 billion VND to live in a house of less than 20 square meters, I had to rent a house for 7-10 million VND/month. The remaining amount is deposited in a bank savings account with monthly interest".
"Right in the deep alley of my parents' house, the house has an area of 18m2, 5 floors, newly built, advertised for sale at 6.48 billion VND. At first, it looked beautiful and the interior was decorated reasonably, but now few people come to see it because the price is too high" - Ms. Trang added.
On forums and groups of home buyers, Ms. Trang noticed that the price of the alley house segment is diverse. For example, a 4-storey Kham Thien townhouse, only 19m2, with 3 bedrooms, with full legal documents, is now being advertised for sale at 5.55 billion VND (equivalent to 292.1 million VND/m2).
Sharing with reporters, Ms. Hoai Phuong - a real estate broker in Hanoi said: "Real estate prices in inner-city areas of Hanoi are no longer too different. The current high or low price depends on factors such as geographical location, convenient cars to move, high population density...".
"Buyers no longer tend to accept deep alleys for good prices, they often choose medium areas, open alleys, with many directions to move, car parking areas 100m away" - Ms. Phuong shared.
Explaining the reason why people are gradually moving away from the segment of houses in deep alleys, Mr. Nguyen The Diep - Vice President of Hanoi Real Estate Club said that it is difficult for personal vehicles to move in small, deep alleys. Second, the issue of fire safety has not been ensured, the fire extinguishing system and fire hydration water pillars have not been installed throughout the system. Adjacent houses are located close together, so the space is somewhat narrow, posing many potential risks.
Regarding the positive aspects of a house, Mr. Diep said that the segment of houses in alleys does not have all the factors such as intelligence, green living ecosystem, convenience and social infrastructure. However, with the financial capacity of many households, the segment of houses in alleys is still chosen in the short term.
