HCMC townhouses, villas find few takers amid primary market slump

By Vu Le September 20, 2022 | 07:32 pm PT

Real estate projects in the Thu Thiem Area in the eastern part of HCMC. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

The primary market for townhouses and villas in HCMC fell to a year's low in August, with only four being sold.

Real estate service provider DKRA Vietnam said in a note that 66 townhouses and villas were offered for sale during the month

In June, 40 were sold while in April the number was 282. There has been a slump in the eastern part of the city in the last four months.

The director of a company which is developing a housing project in Thu Duc City said sales of townhouses and villas started to decline sharply in May.

Experts pointed to the lack of funding available from banks saying a townhouse or a villa costs tens, and even hundreds, of billions of dong (VND1 billion= $41,667), and so buyers are most likely to borrow part of the amount.

Another reason for the lack of transactions is that the seventh lunar month (from July 29) is considered inauspicious and so few people buy then.

Nguyen Loc Hanh, CEO of Asia Gem Real Estate Investment Joint Stock Company, told VnExpress that liquidity has been drying up in the real estate market since April due to tightening of bank credit.

He predicted sales of townhouses and villas to improve during the peak season in late 2022, but warned the overall market would not return to its pre-Covid heyday, and the secondary market would be better than the primary market.