Ghost-town real estate developments remain pricey despite lack of infrastructure and residents
Rows of villas and townhouses at Cat Lai Urban Area remain unoccupied. Photo: Nguyen Hue
Despite being vacant for years and teeming with weeds and mosquitoes, many urban residential developments in Ho Chi Minh City continue to see real estate prices rise sharply, defying logic and frustrating potential buyers.
Desolate villas, rising prices
Following VietNamNet’s previous article on the VND 6 trillion ($236 million) Cat Lai Urban Area, where opulent villas have turned into “ghost houses,” social media users shared additional accounts of underutilized urban zones in the city.
A Facebook user named Anh Nguyen, who currently lives in the area, noted several longstanding issues. The most significant is noise pollution due to the project’s proximity to a major port. In the past, residents endured blaring ship horns well past 10 p.m., which, though now somewhat reduced, still affects daily life.
The second concern is poor infrastructure. While the Citi project is mostly complete, the Pho Dong subdivision suffers from narrow roads and inconsistent planning, with several key routes still unfinished.
Access is also a problem. The primary entry is via Nguyen Thi Dinh Street, shared with container trucks, leading to frequent congestion. After 11 p.m., truck volume surges, causing safety concerns among residents.
In terms of occupancy, most land plots have owners, but very few people have moved in. Many properties are held by speculators, resulting in sparse residential activity.
Another user, Nguyen Hai, commented that property prices in the area were initially attractive, appealing to nearby workers, port staff, or those relocating from Dong Nai. However, prices have since skyrocketed, making transactions increasingly difficult.
The Cat Lai Urban Area, envisioned in 2010 with an investment of around VND 6 trillion (approx. $236 million), was intended to become a modern residential hub at the city’s eastern gateway. Over a decade later, many areas remain incomplete or vacant.
The area was planned to accommodate nearly 27,000 residents with a total of 6,746 homes, including 3,783 apartments (spread across 19 buildings from 5 to 25 stories), 2,072 villas, and 891 garden townhouses.
Construction continues in some sections, but most of the area is deserted. Majestic villas and garden homes are left empty, many shuttered or listed for sale and lease, affecting the overall urban landscape.
"If there’s a paradise for mosquitoes and insects, it must be in Vietnam - living in villas in ghost towns," joked Facebook user Nam Vu.
Housing prices soar despite vacancy
Advertising signs cover homes in Dong Tang Long Urban Area, Long Phuoc ward, HCMC. Photo: Nguyen Hue
Despite this, data from Batdongsan.com.vn reveals that between Q2 2020 and Q2 2025, land prices in these areas surged by 57.6%. Current asking prices average around VND 64.6 million ($2,544) per square meter. Depending on the location and plot size, listings range from VND 8 billion to VND 20 billion ($315,000 to $788,000).
This trend is not exclusive to Cat Lai. Similar patterns are seen at Dong Tang Long Urban Area in Long Phuoc ward, launched in 2005. As of July 2025, less than 10% of the properties there are inhabited.
With a total housing floor area of 1.23 million square meters, the project includes 1,255 garden-linked townhouses, 1,145 garden homes, 268 villas, and 44 apartment blocks. Most buyers are investors intending to flip the properties for profit, rather than live in them.
Nonetheless, prices continue to climb. Between June 2024 and June 2025, asking prices rose by 11.3%, now averaging VND 77.9 million ($3,069) per square meter. Since 2020, this marks a 59.6% increase - meaning a house once priced at VND 5 billion ($197,000) now costs nearly VND 8 billion ($315,000).
A report by the Construction Economics Institute (Ministry of Construction) confirmed that in the first half of 2025, average housing and land prices across the market continued to rise. In Q2/2025 alone, housing prices increased by 7.71% year-on-year, while land prices climbed 7.17%.
Cao Thi Thanh Huong, Senior Research Manager at Savills Vietnam, explained that land costs remain a major component of real estate project development. These costs have never been reduced under current government pricing frameworks, and planned reviews following administrative mergers are still underway.
"Until input costs change, there’s little room to adjust sale prices or project scales," Huong noted.
In this context, housing prices in cities like Ho Chi Minh City are unlikely to drop anytime soon. In fact, they may continue to climb beyond already stretched expectations.
Vietnamnet.vn
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