Hanoi faces shortage of affordable housing

Of them, 24,164 were apartments and the remaining 4,636 were low-rise houses.

Around 16,350 apartments were in new projects, down 27.4 percent, while the rest were from the previous year. Only 10,000 apartments and 3,800 houses were sold.

The ministry attributed the slump in supply to the limited credit available to the property sector. But demand for affordable housing outstripped supply, while supply of luxury units rose sharply.

The majority of the unsold units were apartments with an asking price of over VND35 million ($1,520) per square meter and ready-built houses with land priced at over VND100 million.

Some of the latter were sold at record high prices, Kien Hung in Ha Dong District cost VND200-250 million per square meter and Him Lam on To Huu Street cost VND300 million.