Apartment prices increase again, making buyers' lives more difficult
Due to scarcity, apartment investors are planning to increase selling prices, making it even more difficult for those with real housing needs, who already have difficulty due to limited income, to access.
Apartment prices continue to increase
At Tecco Garden apartment (Thanh Tri), a project located quite far from the center of Hanoi, a broker named Hoang Thi Thu Ha provided information that the price of an apartment with an area of 89 m2, 3 bedrooms, basic furniture (wooden floor, lighting system, water heater) is 2.5 billion VND, equivalent to about 28 million VND/m2.
"If you buy, you should close the deal and pay quickly, otherwise the stock will run out and you will have to buy it back through an investor. At the end of the month, the price may increase by 2-3 million VND/m2," said this broker.
New apartment projects are increasingly popular, causing prices to increase rapidly.
At the project being completed, Rose Town 79 Ngoc Hoi apartment building, the apartments are designed with areas of 70, 78, 89 and 104 m² and have 2 types of ownership, long-term and 50-year term.
A broker of this project said that the current price of a long-term apartment is over 45 million VND/m2, an apartment with a 50-year term from the date of approval and land allocation for the project, currently with more than 30 years left, is priced at 31 million VND/m2, the cheapest in the area, increasing each type of apartment by 2 - 3 million VND/m2 compared to the end of October.
In some projects in Hoang Mai district such as Phuong Dong Green Park, Dong Phat Park View, North South, Feliz home, the price of these apartments ranges from 40 - 45 million VND/m2. In addition, apartments further away such as Tan Tay Do (Dan Phuong) which have been built and put into operation for many years are also being sold for nearly 30 million VND/m2.
At the Grand SunLake - Hesco Van Quan apartment building (Ha Dong District, Hanoi), broker Nguyen Van Phuong said that this project has 2 types of apartments: permanent and 50-year pink books with areas ranging from 69, 91, 134 m2 designed with 2-3 bedrooms.
“The project has a convenient traffic location, near the administrative center of the district, making it easy for residents to travel. It is one of the locations considered the “last golden land” of Ha Dong district, because from the project, residents can easily move to the city center.
Currently, the lowest selling price here is 39 million VND/m2. If customers do not pay quickly, the project owner will increase the selling price by 5% at the end of December, at which time you will have to increase the cost by at least 2 million VND per square meter. If it is a 91m2 apartment, you will have to add nearly 200 million VND," said broker Phuong.
Broker Phuong also took reporters to another project in Ha Dong, The Terra An Hung. This project includes 3 mixed-use buildings 45 floors high, providing 1,328 luxury apartments and low-rise housing with 166 townhouses, meeting the diverse needs of residents with fully integrated internal facilities such as schools, kindergartens, restaurant systems, four-season swimming pools, GYM, restaurants, etc. The project is located right at the gateway of An Hung urban area, on To Huu street, La Khe ward.
"The apartments at The Terra An Hung are designed with many different areas, from 68.7 - 140.8 m2, arranged with 2 - 4 bedrooms, fully meeting the needs of customers. In particular, the Dual key apartment line is flexibly designed with the same entrance, dividing 2 separate spaces.
The price of apartments in this project is from 35 - 45 million VND/m2, depending on the floor and location. If you do not pay quickly, when demand increases and the goods are scarce, you will have to pay a much higher price without being able to choose the floor and apartment you like," Phuong said.
Owning an apartment, a distant dream for low-income people
A survey of actual apartment prices at some projects in Hanoi shows that while the land market is gloomy, the number of people looking to buy apartments in Hanoi has increased by about 6%, and the number of people looking to rent has also increased by 9%. Along with that, the number of newly built projects in recent times has been almost non-existent, so apartment prices have also been pushed up sky high.
Mr. Le Quang Don (Phu Ly, Ha Nam) has been working in Hanoi for decades and is currently renting in Tan Trieu commune (Thanh Tri, Hanoi). He said that both he and his wife have saved up all kinds of money but have not been able to find a place to "settle down" because of limited money.
He said that his family consists of 2 spouses, parents and 2 small children, so the rented place (Tan Trieu, Thanh Tri) with an area of over 40 square meters is still very cramped, no longer suitable and about 13 km from his workplace (Yen My commune, Thanh Tri).
Owning an apartment is becoming a distant dream for low-income people.
With savings and loans of about 2 billion VND, after a long time calculating whether to buy a house or an apartment, at the end of September, Mr. Don decided to choose to buy an apartment.
However, after nearly 2 months of intensive hunting, he still has not found a satisfactory apartment larger than 70 square meters near his workplace, suitable for the amount of money he has.
"Apartment prices are currently high, and there are many people looking to buy. Newly opened projects near the city center cost at least 40-50 million VND/m2. Older apartments are also up to 35 million VND/m2.
"Finding an apartment at the price of 25 million VND/m2 in Hanoi is currently impossible. For my family, who have lived and saved for decades, it is still difficult. For young couples or people who have just come from the countryside, the dream of owning an apartment is too far away," said Mr. Don.
According to Savills' report, in the third quarter of 2023, the supply of new apartments decreased by 47% quarter-on-quarter and 65% year-on-year to 1,891 Class B apartments.
The decreasing supply has caused the primary apartment price level to continue to rise to 54 million VND/m2, up 2% quarterly and 13% annually.
Thus, up to now, primary apartment prices in Hanoi have increased for 19 consecutive quarters, 77% higher than in the first quarter of 2019.
According to Savills, 9,500 apartments in Hanoi will be handed over in 2023. From 2021 to 2025, the number of apartments handed over will decrease by 26% each year. While the supply to the market is increasingly limited, the demand for home ownership among people, especially in large cities like Hanoi, is increasing.
In the primary market, the average price of newly launched apartments in the third quarter increased by nearly 7% quarter-on-quarter and 14% year-on-year to about VND50.8 million/m2.
The selling price has been adjusted in an upward trend due to the overwhelming proportion of new supply in the high-end segment (over 90%).
Commenting on the price of apartments, Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh - Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Brokers Association said that although apartment prices are high, they will still increase because of limited supply, while real housing demand is constantly increasing.
“This has led to the fact that buying an apartment is becoming increasingly difficult for people when the real demand for housing is increasing, there are no new projects and people's income is limited, while the price increase rate of apartments is getting higher and higher.
This is really difficult for people with limited income, young families, families from rural areas moving to the city. In the future, apartment projects will continue to increase in price due to scarcity, at the same time investors must optimize profits when costs are pushed up," said Mr. Dinh.