The high rent in the inner city makes it difficult to find a clean, secure room for less than 3 million VND.
Ms. Thu Hien, a nurse working at a general clinic in District 10, said that for the past month she has been looking for a room near her workplace, but the price is always 4-5 million VND per month. Anything under 3 million VND is small, located in a deep alley, and the space is cramped.
Currently, Ms. Hien and two friends rent a 54-square-meter apartment in District 9 for 7.5 million VND. Including electricity, water, and service fees, each month costs nearly 3 million VND per person. "I want to move closer to the center for convenience, but finding a room is difficult and the price is high," she said.
Quoc Chien, a second-year student at Van Hien University, has rented an 18-square-meter room in Tan Phu District since the beginning of last year. Previously, the monthly rental cost was about VND3 million (including VND2.5 million for the room, the rest for electricity, water, and service fees). In early June, the landlord added some fire-fighting equipment and air conditioning, so the rent increased to VND3.2 million, excluding electricity and water.
Wanting to move to another cheaper area, but after 3 weeks of unsuccessful searching, Chien decided to stay. He said that the rooms are clean, secure, close to school, and the rent is not less than 3 million VND per month. Even in the suburbs of Binh Tan and Go Vap districts, the rent is not less than 2.5 million VND (excluding electricity and water). Rooms priced under 2 million VND are mostly sleeping boxes, only 8-10 m2 in area, in working-class neighborhoods or worker dormitories far from the center.
Since July, room rental prices in Ho Chi Minh City have begun to increase by 10-20% compared to last year. With a rental price of less than 3 million VND per month (including electricity, water, and service fees), tenants have to move to the suburbs of Binh Tan District, District 12, or Thu Duc City.
These houses are also quite narrow, small in area, deep in alley, low quality of living environment. The area is larger and more open, the location is quite far from the district center.
Ms. Tam Truong, the owner of a 12-room boarding house in District 8, said that she has just increased the rent for each room to VND500,000 since July. This boarding house currently has only one room left, priced at VND2.8 million, which is small and can only accommodate one person (no additional people). If there are two or more people, guests must rent a room priced at VND3.5 million or more.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc, who runs 22 rental rooms in Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward (District 1), also said that since the beginning of the year, the rental price has increased. The lowest priced room in her rental area is 3 million VND, and the highest is 5.5 million VND per month (an increase of 200,000-500,000 VND).
"A 3 million VND apartment can accommodate 2 people but it will not be comfortable. Apartments from 3.5 to 5 million VND are suitable for 2 to 3 people," she said, adding that this boarding house is mainly for students and young singles. This price in District 1 is not expensive for a room of 15 to 25 square meters.
Data from the Batdongsan website shows that in July, the demand for rental housing in Ho Chi Minh City increased by 27% compared to the previous month. The strongest growth was in District 10 (+32%), Thu Duc City (+32%), District 5 (+33%), District 7 (+28%)... Also according to this website, in July, rental housing prices in Ho Chi Minh City began to increase again.
Specifically, the average rental price in District 5 is from 6.1 million VND per month, an increase of 10.9%, the lowest price recorded is 3 million VND. Binh Thanh has a rental price increase of 1.6%, the average is from 6.4 million VND, the lowest is 3.5 million VND. District 3 has a price increase of 11.6%, the average is 7.6 million VND, the lowest is 4 million VND. District 10 has an average price of 6.1 million VND per month, the lowest rental price recorded in June is 3 million VND, in July it increased to 4 million VND. District 4 is 6.3 million VND, an increase of 16.7%, the lowest price is 3 million VND per month.
In more remote areas such as Thu Duc City, the average room price is from 4.2 million VND, up 10.5% over the same period, the lowest recorded price is 2.3 million VND. District 7 has a rental price from 5.4 million VND per month, up 1.9%, and the lowest price is 3 million VND. District 12 has a rental price increase of 5.4%, averaging from 3.7 million VND, the lowest is 2.5 million VND.
Statistics from Nha Tot also show that the rental price of rooms in Ho Chi Minh City from 2020 to the second quarter of this year increased by 3% per year and increased by 17% after 4 years. The average rental price is about 3.5 million VND per month. This unit commented that the highest rental price of rooms in the first half of the year (from 4.4-5 million VND) was recorded in central districts such as District 1, 3, Phu Nhuan; the mid-range price was in Binh Thanh and 7 districts (from 3.9-4.2 million VND). The affordable price was in Tan Binh, Tan Phu districts... (3.5-3.9 million VND).
Also according to Nha Tot, in Ho Chi Minh City, rental rooms with rental prices under 3 million VND per month often have low area per person, shared kitchen and bathroom spaces. In addition, homestays, dormitories, sleepboxes... are also trending towards a 12% increase in rental prices in the first half of 2024.
Ms. Tran Nguyen Hoang Uyen, Director of Nha Tot, analyzed that in the context of difficulty in owning a house, the solution of renting a house long-term or even for life becomes a suitable choice for those with not too high income, who cannot bear the financial pressure of buying a house as well as want to save part of their income to expand their business or prevent risks. In fact, in large cities with high population density in developed countries such as Japan, Korea or the US, the trend of people renting houses for more than 15-20 years has also become familiar.
Mr. Dinh Minh Tuan, Director of Batdongsan in the Southern region, also said that in recent years, many young people have tended to switch from trying to save up to buy a house to renting a house long-term due to the pressure of rising house prices, and there are not many suitable options within their financial capacity. The increasing demand each year pushes up the rental price level.
According to Mr. Dang Tran Thanh Triet, Sales Director of Tien Phat Investment Joint Stock Company, the recent high increase in real estate prices (including prices of apartments, land plots and individual houses) has forced rental businesses to increase prices to match the costs incurred. In addition, recently, the management agency has also required stricter requirements on the quality of boarding houses, boarding rooms and fire prevention and fighting factors. Many boarding houses of poor quality, not meeting safety criteria, have been closed. The supply of cheap boarding houses has decreased, and additional costs have been spent on renovating boarding houses to ensure operating standards, so many landlords have had to adjust prices to avoid a drop in profits.
A recent report from the General Statistics Office shows that in the first 6 months of the year, the average monthly income of workers was 7.5 million VND, an increase of 7.4%, equivalent to an increase of 519,000 VND compared to the same period last year. With this income, workers still have difficulty settling down in the context of the current continuously increasing cost of living and rental prices.
TH (according to VnExpress)