In August 2023, with free money, Ms. Vu Thi Thanh (Thanh Xuan, Hanoi) put down money to buy a house in an alley in Van Kiep (Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi) with an area of 37 square meters for 3.6 billion VND. The house in this alley has 5 floors, is open on 2 sides and is close to the hospital. Before putting down money, Ms. Thanh hesitated, afraid that it would be difficult to sell later because the alley leading to the house is nearly 200 meters long, only 1 motorbike can pass through.
After buying the house, Ms. Thanh spent an additional 200 million VND to repaint and add some basic furniture to sell it at a good price. By September 2024, seeing that the house segment in the alley was bustling and needed money to invest, Ms. Thanh asked a broker to sell it for 4.5 billion VND. Because the alley leading to the house was small and narrow, Ms. Thanh was afraid that if she listed a high price, she would not be able to sell the house.
"As an investor, I often look at information in real estate groups. In the middle of late November, I saw my house for sale for 6.4 billion VND (negotiable). Comparing the photos of my house, I saw that the new owner had only renovated the kitchen and added more furniture. I was surprised because after only 2 months, my old house was for sale for an increase of 2 billion VND. Although investing in a house needs to be profitable, this increase is too "crazy" - Ms. Thanh unexpectedly shared.
The increase in apartment prices, along with many other factors affecting the real estate market, has also caused the price of residential land in small alleys to increase. Houses in alleys with prices of about 3-5 billion VND are attracting many investors and buyers with real housing needs. However, the price increase of 2 billion VND after 2 months has made many people exclaim.
According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thang - a real estate broker in Hanoi, currently there are many houses in alleys whose owners are continuously increasing their selling prices even though they have not found buyers.
"It is undeniable that since the beginning of the year, the price of houses in alleys in Hanoi has increased sharply compared to the end of last year. However, the fact that houses in alleys have increased by hundreds of millions, even billions of dong in just 2-3 months is too unreasonable. There are many people with real needs looking to buy houses in alleys, liquidity is good but it cannot increase sharply like that. There are some brokers or homeowners who have grasped the market demand and taken advantage of it to push up prices, heating up the market" - Mr. Thang said.
Mr. Nguyen The Diep - Vice President of Hanoi Real Estate Club - recommends that in order to avoid overpaying when buying a house, buyers should proactively survey and compare house prices with similar apartments in the same project, same area, same segment. If the price difference is too high compared to the broker's price, they should consider bargaining or contact the homeowner to know the real price of the house.
However, regarding the situation of brokers taking too much profit, he said that it is not uncommon for brokers to use the "surfing" trick to make a profit by only depositing with the homeowner or landowner and then reselling it. When there is a buyer, they immediately transfer the property to make a profit. Therefore, home buyers need to be alert to the tricks of brokers.
