The milestone marking the price reversal is the real estate crisis in 2009-2013. When the real estate bubble bursted, Hanoi apartment prices continuously dropped sharply. Meanwhile, HCMC apartment market was more stable with lower price decrease than it was in Hanoi.
This downtrend only ended when the real estate market entered a recovery phase in 2014. Since this time, apartment market performances have gradually improved. However, the growth rates at the two major markets Hanoi and HCMC are not the same.
Average apartment price in HCMC is increasing sharply. (Source: vietnam-guide)
In 2014 alone, prices of apartments sold over the quarters increased, at an average of 2 percent in Hanoi and 6 percent in HCMC.
Since March 2015, apartment price in Hanoi market has been kept relatetively stable. Data of Batdongsan.com.vn shows the asking price of Hanoi apartments has not changed significantly after a long time. The total increase is only about 16 percent for five years, from Q1-2014 to Q1-2019. In term of annual price increase range, the highest price increase is only 5 percent (from Q1-2015 to Q1-2016), the lowest is 0.5 percent (from Q1- 2016 to Q1-2017). At present, the average price is about VND 24.16 million per sqm.
Notably, HCMC apartment market has seen a spectacular breakthrough in price in the last 5 years, with a price increase of three times higher than the Hanoi market. Specifically, in Quarter 1-2019, HCMC apartment price increased by 53 percent compared to Quarter 1-2014, reaching VND 32.7 million per sqm. The annual price increase range in the market rises steadily over the year, hitting the peak of 14.5 percent.
Apartment prices in HCMC in the past were always lower than in Hanoi’s, but now they surpassed and the price gap is getting more and more distant. Specifically, in 2017, 2018 and 2019, HCMC apartment prices are higher than Hanoi by 13 percent, 23 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
