Although Hanoi apartment prices increased sharply and continued to escalate at the end of 2023 and early this year, many investors kept a cautious mentality and did not want to sell.
High profits still do not sell
Mr. Tran Kien Trung, a Hanoi real estate investor, shared that at the end of 2021, he bought an apartment of nearly 70m2 in an apartment in Nam Tu Liem district for VND 2.6 billion. Up to now, the apartment market similar to his is being traded from VND 3.2-3.3 billion.
According to Mr. Kien, in terms of investment goals, at this time, he can completely take profits. However, based on the market situation, primary apartment prices at the moment are still high, while new supply is still scarce.
“I am renting the above apartment for 8.5 million VND/month, the profit from renting in a year reaches 100 million VND. With the monthly income and the increase in apartment value, I decided not to sell this apartment,” Trung shared.
Similarly, Nguyen Thu Trang from Hoang Mai district said that in early 2022, she bought an apartment in Thanh Tri district. At first, she planned to buy it to “surf” for a profit, but then kept it for rent.
“The price of apartments in the past 2-3 years has continuously increased rapidly, in which my apartment increased from VND 1.9 billion to VND 2.6 billion. Although I found it profitable, I still decided to keep the lease to earn monthly cash flow”, Ms. Trang shared.
Like Trung and Trang, many other apartment investors in Hanoi also share the same decision not to sell apartments at the present time to take profits. Because according to these investors, Hanoi apartment prices increased sharply in all projects. If he sells, then with the proceeds, if he continues to buy an apartment for investment, he worries about selling, the price still increases, the proceeds are difficult to buy an equivalent apartment.
In addition, the current investment directions are not positive because the general economy is struggling.
Apartment prices are sky-high
According to the Ministry of Construction, in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to aggregate data reported by localities and survey information assessed by market research organizations, apartment prices will continue the upward trend in two big cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, especially in the central areas.
In the market, there are almost no affordable apartment segment projects (price below 25 million VND/m2), but mainly the mid-end apartment segment (price 25-50 million VND/m2) eligible for capital mobilization and transactions.
Specifically, in Hanoi, in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the report, some projects have an average price increase in areas such as: Thanh Xuan District increased by about 3.5%; Ha Dong district increased by about 3.7%; Hoang Mai district increased by about 3.8%; Nam Tu Liem district increased by about 4.1%…
In particular, the selling price of affordable apartments is priced at 25-35 million VND/m2; selling price of mid-end apartments, priced at about 35-50 million VND/m2; The selling price of high-end apartments is over 50 million VND/m2, popular at 60-70 million VND/m2.
Sharing about this issue, Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh – Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Real Estate Brokers (VARS) – said that the price of Hanoi apartments in the primary market continuously increased because in this period, there were very few investors with projects. The investors with supply at this stage are mostly large investors, without financial difficulties, so the asking price is high to recover maximum profits. The average price of Hanoi apartments in the primary market is 51.7 million VND/m2.
According to Mr. Dinh, the primary price level is difficult to reduce due to input costs (housing index and construction material prices each year increase by about 6%). Along with that, inflation and interest rates are increasing. In addition, the number of newly approved commercial housing projects is increasingly scarce, and the land fund in central areas is also not much.
In addition, according to this expert, although Hanoi apartment prices in the primary market have not decreased, home buyers still benefit in price from unprecedented preferential policies in the policy race of investors.
“Buyers are paid in installments, enjoy preferential interest rates, grace periods of principal with 2 or 3 times more time than in previous years. This is boosting the liquidity of the apartment segment in the primary market”, Mr. Dinh shared.
