Apartment prices are stagnant but still difficult to buy

At the beginning of the year, hearing that the market was showing signs of slowing down, Hai Yen and her husband in Nam Tu Liem district restarted their plan to buy a house. With nearly 2 billion VND in savings, the female office worker planned to buy an apartment in a project under construction in the West so that she could continue to pay according to the progress. Consulting many brokers, Yen said that the price level of the projects was still high, fluctuating between 65-80 million VND per square meter.

For example, in the last subdivision of three buildings in the western metropolis, Ms. Yen was offered to buy a number of two-bedroom apartments with an area of ​​63-67 square meters, priced at about 4.5-4.8 billion VND. If she is satisfied, she will pay in advance 20% of the amount the homeowner has paid, about 950 million VND to 1 billion VND, then continue to pay progress of about 5% per quarter, receiving the house in the third quarter of 2027.

"These apartments are all 'cut at a loss' of 50 million VND, but I still think the price is high so I can wait for a further reduction," she said.

Similarly, Mr. Quang Tien, an investor in Gia Lam district, also sought discounted apartments at a new apartment project in the East in the first month of the year. He said that some new projects launched late last year have stopped increasing prices, and many large-area apartments have even been reduced by VND50-100 million. For example, at a project consisting of three buildings by a foreign investor, the price of some 54-square-meter two-bedroom apartments is about VND4.1 billion (about VND76 million per square meter), no longer a VND100 million difference as when the project was first launched in the fourth quarter.

Or in the subdivision that was handed over nearly 4 years ago, the apartment price level has also stagnated since the end of last year. Some apartments with an area of ​​65 square meters are offered at 46-47 million VND per square meter, while in the middle of last year they were 48-49 million VND. Mr. Tien said that many investors are also "waiting for the market to decline further to consider putting money down because the current price level is still high".

In a recent report, One Housing, a real estate service provider backed by Masterise Homes and Techcombank, predicted that the number of apartment transactions in Hanoi could fall by 5% this year after a sharp increase last year. However, the price level is still likely to remain high. The company said that as of the fourth quarter, the average secondary price in the West was VND56 million per square meter, while in the East it was about VND49 million.

Similarly, real estate services firm CBRE said that last year, secondary apartment prices in the capital increased by more than 26% - the highest level ever recorded, reaching an average of VND48 million per square meter. However, this growth trend tends to slow down in 2025. CBRE forecasts that abundant new supply of up to 31,000 units this year will stabilize selling prices, expected to increase by an average of 6-8% year-on-year.

Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh, General Director of Ho Tay International Building Company, said that many areas that used to be hot spots for price increases such as the West, East and South, are now showing signs of cooling down in terms of interest and transaction volume. Meanwhile, the continuous addition of new apartment supply has made the pressure to push sales even stronger.

However, the phenomenon of slight price reduction of 3-5% has only appeared locally in some new high-priced projects due to investors facing financial pressure and wanting to sell their goods. The rest tend to maintain prices, and even some projects in prime locations inside Ring Road 3 may still increase slightly this year.

High apartment prices make it challenging for many people to buy a house. In a newly released report, CBRE said that housing prices in Hanoi are on par with many countries in the region, but the average income of workers is much lower than in neighboring countries. For example, in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), the average apartment price is on par with Hanoi, at around VND66 million per square meter, but the average income per capita is up to USD28,000, more than four times higher than Hanoi.

"With this difference, workers in Hanoi have even less access to housing than in Singapore," said CBRE.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARS), acknowledged that the finances of the majority of people are still struggling to recover from the difficult economic period. The average income of the 20% highest-income group in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang is about 13.3-14.5 million VND, an increase of 4-7%. In terms of income and housing prices, even this 20% group has difficulty owning a home and the lower-income groups "have almost no chance".

"With the current real estate price level, even if it drops by 50%, many middle-income workers will still find it difficult to access," said Mr. Dinh.