Dinh Tien Hoang, Cau Go, Lo Su, Hang Ngang, Hang Dao, Hang Bac, Hang Be, Hang Buom, Hang Bong and Hang Bo are called golden streets in the central business district of Hoan Kiem in Hanoi. 

The land and houses there are offered at hundreds of millions of dong to billions of dong per square meter, or even higher.

A 3-story house facing two streets, Dinh Tien Hoang and Cau Go, with total area of 210 sq m and a front gate width of 8 meters is offered at VND420 billion, which means that one sq m is priced at VND2 billion.

Another house, 65 sq m, with the front gate width of 6 meters, facing Dinh Tien Hoang street is offered at VND70 billion, or VND1 billion, per sq m. 

On Lo Su street, which is nearby, an 8-story house with a floor area of 100 sq m, has been put up for sale at VND86 billion, or VND860 million per sq m. The price is negotiable. The house is being leased for business.

On Hang Be street, a 4-storey house, 32 sq m, is offered at VND25 billion, or VND781 million per sq m. A Hang Bo street-front house, 260 sq m, is quoted at VND135 billion, or VND520 million per sq m. It is advertised as being located on the most advantageous position of the street with wide pavements. 

In large cities in Vietnam, wide sidewalks are considered a great advantage, because it can be used as retail premises for shops or street eateries.

Nguyen Anh Dung, a real estate broker in Hanoi, who is keen on street-front houses, said land prices in Hanoi in general and in Old Quarter in particular have decreased compared with the pre-Covid period.

Dung said the prices of houses differ, though they are located in the same district or on the same streets, because of different feng shui locations, usable areas, and legal status.

According to Dung, before the Covid-19 outbreak, very few houses in the Old Quarter were for sale, but the number of houses for sale increased significantly after Covid-19. Now Dung is seeking buyers for more than 10 houses in the area.

“There are many houses for sale, but few successful transactions. The houses in the Old Quarter all have high value, from tens of billions of dong to hundreds of billions of dong. It is more difficult to find buyers capable of paying such big amounts of money,” he explained.

“Meanwhile, wealthy buyers willing to spend hundreds of billions of dong to buy valuable houses are always very choosy,” he added.

“Before Covid-19, I could arrange a successful transaction. A house sold for VND45 billion. But no deal has been made after Covid-19,” he said.

A representative of batdongsan.com.vn told VietNamNet that in the last three months (March, April and May), the average price of street-front houses in the Old Quarter was VND597 million per sq m. 

Meanwhile, the number of people searching for information about street-front houses in the Old Quarter fell by 30 percent compared with the same period last year.

The offered prices of the houses decreased by 11 percent compared with the same period of 2022, but still increased by 8 percent compared with the pre-Covid period (2019).

The average statistics of three months (March, April and May) compared with the same periods of previous years on some streets in the Old Quarter showed that the average price of houses on Lo Su street was VND1.058 billion per sq m in 2023 and VND972 million in 2019. The figures for Hang Buom street are VND924 million and 706 million, respectively.

Nguyen Quoc Anh, deputy CEO of batdongsan.com.vn, said that property in the Old Quarter has its own appeal. The houses are mostly used for business purposes, such as eateries, hotels and tourism services. One of the factors that indicate the ‘health’ of the real estate segment is the number of tourists, especially foreigners.

“Foreign travelers have come back, and the situation has improved compared with last year, but the pre-pandemic figure has not been regained. In the first quarter of 2023, Hanoi received 5.9 million travelers, much lower than the 7.5 million in the same period of 2019."

Hong Khanh