In 2022, Ms. Pham Van's family (24 years old) bought an apartment in Xa La, Ha Dong (Hanoi) for 1.2 billion VND, about 50 square meters wide, designed with 2 bedrooms.
Recently, although she has no plans to sell her apartment, Ms. Van has continuously received calls from brokers asking to buy a house. Notably, not just one person, but up to three people regularly ask to buy a house with a price of up to 3-3.2 billion VND. Meanwhile, the actual price of her apartment is 2.4 billion VND.
These people firmly asserted: "If we agree to sell, we will immediately have customers come to put down a deposit."
The promises and invitations from the broker convinced Ms. Van. However, when she contacted the broker to arrange and prepare the procedures, he suddenly disappeared.
“The apartment price was so attractive that I hesitated. After discussing it carefully with my parents, I agreed to sell the house. However, when I called the broker again, my connection was blocked,” said Ms. Van.
Similarly, Mr. Le Quang Khanh (22 years old), who currently owns an apartment in Nam Tu Liem district (Hanoi), is also fed up with a series of calls from real estate brokers. Mr. Khai bought this apartment for 2.7 billion VND, about 55 square meters wide.
One month after receiving the house, Mr. Khai was immediately bothered by many messages and phone calls from brokers. They promised to buy his apartment at the highest price, which could be up to 2 billion VND higher than the original price, or about 4.7 billion VND. Because he had encountered a similar situation a few years ago, Mr. Khai decided not to believe the broker's words.
“In 2022, I was also urged to sell my house quickly because the price was very good. After a period of stressful thinking, I agreed with the desire to receive a large amount of money to buy another, larger house. However, I was extremely disappointed when I realized that it was just a trick of the broker,” Mr. Khai confided.
Speaking with Lao Dong, Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh - Vice President of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, President of the Vietnam Real Estate Brokers Association, this group of subjects are not actually brokers but interest groups, speculators, and investors with unclear purposes. Specifically, these subjects want to sell the goods they have invested in and speculated in at the highest interest rates, so they do not hesitate to use tricks to inflate prices, push up prices, and create a scarce market.
Mr. Dinh said: “This phenomenon has a great impact on the real estate market. Accordingly, prices continuously “dance” creating a chaotic market, a virtual market; hindering the investment activities of genuine investors, especially in negotiation, compensation, and site clearance. In addition, consumers may encounter difficulties and material losses when facing “bubble” prices.
According to Mr. Dinh, to minimize this phenomenon, localities need to control, manage and regulate the activities of posting information and selling real estate more closely; strictly implement sanctions against speculative and illegal investment activities.
In addition, relevant units need to regularly publicize market information data, especially real estate price and transaction indexes.
*Character names have been changed.
