Why more young Vietnamese are buying home despite climbing prices

A year ago, after renovating her parents’ house, she had VND300 million in savings, enough to put down a 20% deposit for a 35-square-meter, one-bedroom apartment in HCMC’s Thu Duc University Village.

The developer had a two-year leaseback program with VND9 million in monthly rent to help ease her financial burden.

Oanh works in real estate and has seen housing prices skyrocket, pushing ownership out of reach for many young buyers.

She borrowed VND1.3 billion to pay for the apartment out of fear that she would miss her chance. "My parents tried to stop me when they found out because they were afraid I would lose money," she says.

Phuong Oanh receives her apartment in Thu Duc University Village, HCMC, on Sept. 10, 2025. Photo courtesy of Phuong Oanh

Lam Tuan, 23, of Hanoi, owns a VND4.5 billion apartment in the Ngoai Giao Doan urban area. He learned about stock and gold investments from his father and older brother while in high school.

As a freshman studying finance at university he earned VND50 million a month by working and making investments. Five years later he had saved VND3 billion.

One day his father gave him VND1 billion and said: "Use this as startup capital. It is fine if you lose it."

After consulting financial experts, he decided to buy an apartment with a mortgage. "Buying a home gives me a place to live and a chance to make profits when prices rise," he says. "My decision surprised my father."

People aged 25-35 has accounted for over 40% of homebuyers since 2019, according to the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARS). At some projects, this number goes up to 70%.

A survey by proptech company One Mount Group found most buyers are aged 35-44 while the 18-34 demographic accounts for 27%.

Another survey, this one by the Singapore-based proptech firm PropertyGuru, found homeownership rates rose from 13% in 2021 to 19% in 2023 among those aged 22-26 and from 39% to 42% for the 27-30 group.

"Young people are now the driving force behind the apartment market," HCMC real estate agent Le Quoc Kien says.

He says young people have more and faster ways to earn money than their predecessors.

While previous generations often spent years working up to management positions before achieving a stable income to buy a home, he says today youth use technology, e-commerce, digital content creation, and digital assets to build wealth early.

Gen Z has better financial knowledge, with many seeing homes as both a place to live and an investment, he says.

Banks offer flexible payment plans and developers let buyers pay in stages and provide loans for future projects, and so young people can buy homes without paying a large sum upfront, he says.

Besides, young people are willing to move to the suburbs and buy affordable apartments instead of saving for years to buy within the city, he says. "Many young people get financial support from their families. Parents of Gen Z, mostly from the 70s and 80s generations, have greater savings and are ready to help their children buy homes when they study or work in the city."

Oanh says most of her clients are between 27 and 30, and even closed a deal last month with a 24-year-old IT worker. "He owns a company and earns VND200 million a month. He bought the two largest apartments in the development, each worth VND2.6 billion."

Lam Tuan sits in his living room in Ngoai Giao Doan urban area, Hanoi, in Sept. 2025. Photo by Anh Dao

The influx of young buyers notwithstanding, Oanh says homeownership is out of reach for most because of the rising housing prices.

Data from VARS shows that since 2019 average apartment prices in Hanoi increased by 11.7% a year, climbing from VND25 million to VND75.5 million per square meter. During the period per capita income grew by only 6.4% a year.

Financial analyst Vu Dinh Anh says young buyers need support. The government has programs for people aged under 35, including a VND145 trillion credit package backed by nine major banks.

Dang Thu Thuy of Agribank says the state-owned lender has earmarked VND10 trillion ($380 million) for people under 35 to buy social housing at 6% interest with the loans covering 100% of the cost.

Another VND10 trillion is for commercial mortgages at a fixed 5.5% interest rate for the first three years and repayment over 40 years.

As of June 710 young customers had borrowed VND1.6 trillion from this program.

But property analyst Le Quoc Kien advises young buyers to borrow no more than 50% of the cost and keep monthly payments at below 40% of income.

"Don’t just focus on low initial rates or grace periods. Plan for when promotions end."

Resettlement areas, apartments, townhouses, and land plots in Thu Duc City, HCMC, Aug. 2024. Photo by Quynh Tran

Tuan says he borrowed VND500 million and paid only VND4 million a month but still struggled at times.

In 2022 the floating interest rate rose, increasing his payment to VND5.7 million while the stock market crashed and his income fell to nearly zero. "The pressure was overwhelming," he says. He rented out the apartment to cope.

After receiving her apartment, Oanh signed a two-year lease. The contract will end when her younger sister starts university. "By then we’ll have a stable place to live in the city."