Hanoi apartment prices show signs of slowing down

Surveys on some real estate trading sites show that apartment prices in November and December in Hanoi began to decrease. For example, an apartment in Long Bien district was advertised for sale at an average price of 55 - 65 million VND/m2 in October, but now costs 50 - 60 million VND/m2.

Similarly, an apartment complex in Hai Ba Trung district in October had a common price of around 80 million VND/m2, but is now being offered for sale at 72 - 80 million VND/m2.

Apartment prices in another apartment complex in Nam Tu Liem district also decreased slightly, from the common level of VND62.6 million/m2 in October to about VND60.9 million/m2.

Or the 70 m2 resettlement apartment that has been used for more than ten years in Cau Giay district, after the owner raised the price to nearly 60 million VND/m2 a few months ago following the general "fever" of the market, has now dropped to more than 50 million VND/m2 after many unsuccessful attempts to sell.

The price of an apartment in Nam Tu Liem district tends to decrease. (Screenshot)

Not only have prices decreased, the number of apartment transactions has also decreased significantly. Ms. Le Thi Tan - a broker specializing in apartments in Hanoi - said that before, she received hundreds of calls each month asking to buy houses and closed about 2-3 apartments, but in the past 2 months, she has only received 20-30 calls each month and has not closed any apartments.

Ms. Tan said that most people who want to buy apartments now just go to look around and wait for prices to drop, while homeowners continue to increase prices even though there are no buyers.

According to the owner of a real estate floor in Hanoi, in the past 2 months, apartment transactions in Hanoi have decreased because the prices have recently increased too high, not suitable for the majority of buyers. Currently, in his company's inventory, most of the apartments are 2-bedroom apartments priced at about 5 billion VND.

Apartment prices in Hanoi are slowing down. (Illustration photo)

" Two-bedroom apartments priced at VND2.8-3 billion will be liquidated quickly. On the contrary, apartments priced at VND5 billion or more are advertised for sale for a long time but still have difficulty finding buyers. However, the reality is that high prices are due to the expectations of sellers. They all want to sell their apartments at the highest price, so they continuously increase prices. This makes brokers unhappy because they cannot find buyers ," he said.

Mr. Giang Anh Tuan - Director of Tuan Anh Real Estate - said that after a period of sharp increase, apartment prices have now exceeded the income of many workers. Therefore, recently, the number of transactions has decreased significantly because customers have stopped looking to buy.

He said that the reason some apartments have reduced their prices is because they were previously inflated too high. In some old apartment projects recently, many homeowners listened to information posted online by brokers about the selling prices of some surrounding projects, then used that as a reference price for their apartments, so the prices were fixed at a high level. But in reality, transactions are very difficult because those apartments have signs of deterioration and do not have as many amenities as the new apartments next door.

There are also cases where prices are pushed up because a group of real estate brokers and "brokers" set high prices in order to create a "virtual fever". " After a period of not being able to sell, many homeowners have been forced to lower their prices, leading to signs of price reduction in some areas ," said Mr. Tuan.

Mr. Pham Duc Toan - General Director of EZ Property also said that recently, apartment prices have only been hot locally in Hanoi due to the difference between supply and demand. Up to now, apartment prices in Hanoi have exceeded the peak, causing many people to temporarily suspend their home buying plans. Therefore, apartment liquidity has been very low recently.

Mr. Toan predicts that apartment prices will hardly increase in the near future. However, it will also be very difficult for apartment prices to decrease immediately, except in cases where those who need money reduce the price to sell quickly.

Commenting on the price of apartments in Hanoi in the coming time, Ms. Nguyen Hoai An - Director of CBRE Hanoi said that the apartment market in Hanoi is gradually relieving the "thirst" for housing supply shortage. Prices will not decrease but will no longer increase "hotly" like in the recent period.

Currently, apartment products for living and investment are quite diverse, and the price level is also higher than previous years. Therefore, waiting for housing prices to decrease is difficult. Because real estate prices can only decrease when: First, there is excess supply and slow demand growth, affecting market liquidity and affecting selling prices; second, there are major fluctuations in the macro economy, financial markets, economic growth, etc.

In Vietnam, although the economy is currently growing steadily, interest rates, inflation, and exchange rates are controlled at reasonable levels, the housing supply is still in a state of shortage and imbalance between segments... Therefore, in the short term, it is very difficult for real estate prices to decrease.

" In 2025, the supply of new apartments could reach over 30,000 units. Prices will not decrease but will not increase as rapidly as in the recent period, possibly only increasing by 5-8% compared to 2024 ," Ms. Hoai An predicted.

At the 2024 year-end conference on the morning of December 14, the Ministry of Construction stated that, although the real estate market has had positive changes recently, there has been a situation where housing prices have increased beyond the financial capacity of the majority of people, especially in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and major cities.
" Apartment prices in Hanoi continue to increase in both new and old projects. The price level of new projects has increased by about 6% quarterly and 25% annually, and some areas have increased locally by about 35% to 40% depending on the location compared to the second quarter of 2024 ," the Ministry of Construction's report stated.
Despite the price increase, the total transaction volume of apartments and individual houses in 2024 is about 137,386 units, equal to 102.2% compared to the same period in 2023. The total transaction volume of land is about 446,899 lots, equal to 138.1%.
In 2025, the Ministry of Construction aims to achieve an average housing area of 27 square meters per person; the number of completed social housing units is over 100,000 units.

Chau Anh

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