Before morning shift, Mr. Le Viet Manh sat at a tea shop next to Sai Dong Industrial Park (Long Bien, Hanoi) and took the opportunity to drink a cup of green tea. The hot water rose with the early mist, signaling another working day to begin.
The 45-year-old man has been a worker for more than 20 years. Despite his high seniority, his basic salary is only over 8 million VND. In addition to allowances and productivity bonuses, Mr. Manh's monthly income is about 10 million VND.
"With the current standard of living in the city, the monthly salary is only enough to cover food, children's education and family expenses. Every expenditure must be carefully calculated little by little. I just hope to get a salary increase because everything is expensive now. Prices increase faster than wages, so we workers work very hard" - Mr. Manh shared.
Mr. Manh confided that the thing that worries him the most is that after all those years of working as a worker, his savings are almost insignificant. Although he has worked hard for many years, his income is just enough to cover living expenses and raising young children.
"Our workers will never be able to buy land or build a house" - he said and thought that his dream of having a house in the city was still far away, even though he had only known how to work, save money and endure to stay in an expensive urban area all his life.
For nearly 15 years, Mr. Nguyen Van Dung and his wife have been living in a 15 square meter rented room in Thang Long Industrial Park (Dong Anh, Hanoi).
The room is small, just enough to accommodate a bed, an iron cabinet and a few household items. Each month, Mr. Dung pays 1.2 million VND in rent, plus electricity and water bills, and the cost of living is almost half of his salary.
Mr. Dung is 39 years old this year, working as a worker in a mechanical workshop. From early morning, he left his rented room and walked nearly 1km to be on time for his shift. Working regularly, earning about 9 million VND per month, if overtime, you will earn a few million or more. Although he saved all his money, he still had not saved any significant amount of money.
"There is no extra food, children's school fees, monthly living expenses... calculated. Many times I think about buying a house but can only laugh. In this city, land is calculated in billions, and workers' salaries are only calculated in millions" - he said.
Mr. Dung said that the thing that made him most determined was that his eldest son had finished secondary school but his family still did not have a stable place to live. Every time the landlord increases the price, the whole family has to move and struggle to find a new place.
"My biggest wish is to have a small house, just enough sunshade to protect my children from the rain so that they can study with peace of mind. But that dream is still far away" - Mr. Dung expressed.
According to Dr. Tran Xuan Luong - Deputy Director of the Vietnam Institute for Real Estate Market Research and Evaluation - land prices and especially apartment prices have increased a lot in recent times, especially in the inner city of Hanoi.
The main reason is that planning - infrastructure is still localized, high-quality essential infrastructure is still concentrated in the center, traffic is still inadequate; at the same time, consumer behavior has changed, the younger generation prefers multi-utility apartments instead of the old "buy land, build a house" model.
He noted that home buyers should choose products that are affordable to avoid "income traps". The mentality of "easy to buy - buy quickly - wait for the price to increase to make up for the interest" is no longer appropriate. Accordingly, home buyers need to be more cautious, especially when the supply of social housing is expected to increase sharply in the coming time, limiting the psychology of buying by all means that are prone to risks.
