According to the HCM City Construction Department, housing supply has decreased since 2018 while 2017 saw the highest growth rate within a decade, with 43,000 products provided.

In January-September 2022, housing supply in the city partly recovered with 11,600 products available, up 71 percent year on year but 36 percent of 2017.

In the past two years, affordable housing (priced below VND25 million/sq.m) was scarce. There were no new products marketed in 2021 and January-September 2022. The figure was only 163 for 2020.

Meanwhile, supply of high-end products (priced above VND40 million/sq.m) was high during this time. In 2018, the products accounted for 30 percent of total supply, then rose to 72 percent in 2021 and 80.2 percent in January-September 2022.

Prof. Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, said the real estate market has experienced price fever spells over the past 10 years, and after each “spell”, prices rose to a new height. The opportunity for middle- and low-income earners to buy houses is narrowing.

The ratio of average housing price is an important factor to measure the real estate market. In Europe, people need to save 25 percent of their annual income to buy a house after eight years. In Thailand, it takes people 28 years to buy a house. In Vietnam, the figure is 120 years, according to Prof. Vo.

Chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association Le Hoang Chau told a recent forum that the HCM City’s housing market has seen the prices increasing over the past five years. Though the market is quiet with fewer transactions, the prices remain sky high.

The price of affordable houses, or VND2 billion/house, is now 20 times over the average income. Since 2019, ‘super-luxury’ projects with the price of VND500 million/sq.m have been launched. The prices are up to VND1 billion/sq.m for some projects.

Duy Anh