Apartment transactions in Hanoi decrease sharply

(Dan Tri) - Some brokers said that apartment transactions in Hanoi have decreased sharply but homeowners continue to increase their selling prices.

Apartment transactions down?

Although for the past 2 months, Mr. Nguyen Hong - a real estate broker in Hanoi, has been tirelessly posting advertisements inviting customers to buy apartments, there have been no transactions. He said that since the beginning of the year, the selling price of apartments in Hanoi has been continuously pushed up very high, even changing daily.

"Since the beginning of the year, many apartments have doubled their selling prices. The selling price is very high, a 2-bedroom apartment is about 4-5 billion VND. Some people think that the high price makes brokers benefit because the commission also increases. But in reality, the price is too high, people who want to buy cannot afford it, so there are very few transactions. For the past 2 months, I have not been able to sell an apartment," he said.

According to him, most people who want to buy apartments now just go to look around and wait for prices to drop. On the contrary, homeowners continue to increase the selling price even though there are no buyers.

According to Mr. Vu Tung - owner of a real estate brokerage in Hanoi - said that in the past 2 months, apartment transactions in Hanoi have decreased. The reason is that apartment prices are increasing, buyers are having a wait-and-see mentality.

In addition, the apartment products for sale on the market today are all expensive, not suitable for the majority of buyers. Currently, in Mr. Tung's inventory, most of the apartments are 2-bedroom apartments priced at around 5 billion VND.

"Two-bedroom apartments priced at VND2.8-3 billion will be liquidated quickly. On the contrary, apartments priced at VND5 billion or more have been on 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 the selling price. This makes brokers unhappy because they cannot find buyers," he said.

An apartment building in Hanoi (Photo: Ha Phong).

For example, Mr. Tung said that half a month ago, he introduced a customer to buy a 67m2 apartment in Nam Tu Liem district (Hanoi) for 4.5 billion VND. However, when the customer brought the deposit, the owner changed his mind and wanted to sell it for 4.8 billion VND. Because no agreement was reached, the customer refused to buy.

Expert: People have less FOMO mentality

Talking to Dan Tri reporter, Mr. Pham Duc Toan - General Director of EZ Property - 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.

"I have a group of friends who are all high-income earners, but looking at current apartment prices, they all think they are too high, not commensurate with the value, and very difficult to access," he said.

According to him, apartment prices are too high, so many people have put their plans to buy a house on hold. 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.

According to Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh - Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Real Estate Brokers (VARS), recently, the story of real estate prices has always been a "hot" topic attracting much attention from the public. In that story of price increases, there are cases of speculation, profiteering, taking advantage of the imbalance of supply and demand to hoard goods, inflate prices to surf, and make a difference.

He believes that the interest in apartments has cooled down because people have less FOMO (fear of missing out) mentality. However, when a new level is established, it will be difficult for prices to decrease in the short term, especially when the market in Hanoi has not solved the problem of supply and demand.

"Although the price increase shows signs of impact, creating confusing information from speculators creating virtual supply and demand to push up prices in the resale market. Therefore, when spending money at any time, buyers need to carefully compare prices before buying," the expert said.

Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh said that to reduce apartment prices in Hanoi, efforts should be made to speed up the progress of social housing projects. Proactively regulate supply by effectively using planning tools, adjusting planning, and allocating additional clean land funds to help investors implement social housing projects as soon as planning is established.

According to him, in the long term, to stabilize the price of apartments in particular and housing products in general, there needs to be strong participation from the State. In particular, it is necessary to continue promoting the development of transport infrastructure, shortening the travel time from satellite areas to the city center, and the supply from the suburbs will reduce housing prices.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/bat-dong-san/giao-dich-chung-cu-tai-ha-noi-giam-manh-20241210015520874.htm