Townhouses are a segment that was sought after in the past by investors for its rental efficiency. However, at present, with the situation of high real estate prices, not only does real buyers feel afraid but investors are also gradually withdrawing.
Talking with some investors, it is known that previously spending 10 billion VND to invest in buying a house in a townhouse for rent will earn a fairly stable cash flow. However, this segment has now increased to 30-50 billion VND per unit, while the rental price has remained almost unchanged. Even now, renting premises for business is in a downward trend, causing very low profitability.
CBRE statistics show that currently, the average primary selling price of townhouses in Ho Chi Minh City is about 300 million VND/m2, while the transaction price on the secondary market (buy and resell) is about 160 million VND/m2. With this price, a 100 m2 townhouse usually costs from 30 billion VND, while a small 50 m2 house also has the lowest price of 15 billion VND. Even when buying on the secondary market, buyers need to prepare a minimum financial source of 8-16 billion VND.
Too high prices have caused a sharp decline in demand for this type of product. According to Savills Vietnam's report, in the second quarter of 2025, Ho Chi Minh City has more than 600 townhouses (villas, townhouses) for primary sale (investors open for sale), of which the number of items opened for sale for the first time is only about 80 units, the rest are used goods.
Although the supply is not large, liquidity is still recorded at a low level with 100 successful transactions, the absorption rate is less than 15%. In the first half of the year, the city had about 700 townhouses on the market, but only 170 had successful transactions, with a consumption rate of less than 24%.
Research from DKRA Group Real Estate Consulting Company also shows a similar trend. In the last quarter, Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring localities (Tay Ninh, Dong Nai) had about 85 townhouse projects for sale, providing nearly 8,800 products to the market. However, the transaction recorded only about 3,400 units, equivalent to an absorption rate of 39%. Ho Chi Minh City alone has about 100 houses successfully opened for sale, with a consumption of around 20-25% of primary product baskets.
Ms. Giang Huynh - Director of Savills Research and Consulting Department, Ho Chi Minh City - said that the main reason for the sluggish liquidity of the townhouse segment is due to the lack of diversity in supply and high selling prices. In the last quarter, more than 87% of the opening sales sources were inventories, mainly in the high-end segment, with an average price of about 330 million VND/m2. These are mostly large apartments with un prime locations, making it difficult to reach real buyers or investors.
The gap between housing prices and the income of workers in Ho Chi Minh City is too far apart, making ownership almost out of reach. A worker with an average income of 30 million VND per month, if he saves about 100 million VND per year, will need more than 20 years to be able to buy a house worth 2 billion VND. Meanwhile, the average apartment price in Ho Chi Minh City is currently at 4-5 billion VND, while townhouses range from 10-30 billion VND. With this price level, it will take workers at least 40 years to have enough money to buy an apartment, and they can hardly access townhouses.
