People are rushing to put down money, accepting real estate prices at a loss.

Selling at a loss is still lucky

After nearly a year of selling, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hai has just sold his house in Nam Tu Liem District (Hanoi). According to Mr. Hai, because he could not find a buyer for a long time, he had to decide to sell at a loss of nearly 1 billion VND compared to the time of purchase in early 2021.

"My house in the alley has an area of 70m2, has 4 floors and is sold for 5.2 billion VND, equivalent to nearly 74 million VND/m2. This price is lower than the price I bought it for 900 million VND in early 2021, but I still have to sell it because I need money and am tired of waiting for a buyer for a long time," said Mr. Hai, affirming that he was lucky to sell the house.

Người dân rục rịch xuống tiền, chấp nhận mức giá bất động sản cắt lỗ - 1 — Successful real estate transactions have increased gradually in recent months (Illustration photo: Ha Phong).

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Oanh - a real estate broker specializing in selling residential land in the Hanoi area, since about last August, the number of transactions of her and other brokers in the office has increased. Some lucky brokers have closed more than 10 transactions a month.

"The real estate market in many districts of Hanoi is seeing increased transactions again. In Hoang Mai district, in October and early November, I sold more than 11 houses," said Ms. Oanh.

According to this broker, most of the successful real estate transactions today are products with deep losses, with prices ranging from 2.5 to 5 billion VND. Street-front real estate priced from 10 billion VND or more is very difficult to liquidate.

"Most of the current home buyers are actual buyers, who have prepared over 70% of their finances. Only a few investors or home buyers decide to use "leverage" even though the current interest rates are not high," said Ms. Oanh, explaining that the reason for this situation is due to the difficult economy and low liquidity, making investors reluctant to "put down money".

Investors are rushing to hunt for land in the suburbs.

From the buyer's perspective, Ms. Tran Thi Lan in Cau Giay District (Hanoi) said that currently, home loans and interest rates have decreased to a suitable level. Ms. Lan commented that this is the right time to buy a house at a loss-cutting price.

"Because I need to buy a house, I also regularly monitor information about real estate prices in Cau Giay district. Currently, I see that the selling price is not as "virtual" as last year, there are houses with prices decreasing and remaining the same", Ms. Lan acknowledged.

According to the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARS), the real estate market has recorded positive signs of recovery with more segments and regions showing signs of "bottoming out".

Also according to VARS, if, in the past, secondary transactions only appeared mainly in the land and residential housing segment with prices under 3 billion VND, recently, with more positive information from the market, demand has improved with many options when a more diverse supply is supplemented by loss-cutting products of investors. Collateral assets such as real estate foreclosed by banks have also increased in the market.

Notably, interest rates have been adjusted down significantly, approaching the level of early 2022. People's idle money, although not much, has begun to return to real estate investment.

Townhouses and villas priced over 5 billion VND, with prices remaining stable for a while after a period of deep loss cutting at the beginning of this year, have been "accepted" by investors to invest, starting a new growth cycle.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh - Chairman of VARS - more investors have started their journey of "hunting" for land, in the suburban areas of big cities, localities with strong infrastructure development and high urbanization rate with prices considered quite "bargain", with much room for growth in the future.

"The real estate market in the fourth quarter will continue its recovery trend with transaction results clearly improved compared to the previous three quarters due to investor confidence being strengthened, interest rates decreasing, and the market having more suitable supply," said Mr. Dinh.

However, according to the Chairman of VARS, the recovery will hardly grow dramatically in the short term. Because the real estate market has been "sick" for a long time and has not fully "recovered". A "slow but steady" recovery and gradual familiarization with the new business environment are the keys to a successful return.

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