Townhouse rents skyrocket in downtown HCMC

Vinh, a housing broker in District 1, said the rent for a typical unit on the main street of Nguyen Hue for instance is almost back to pre-Covid levels. The monthly rent for a townhouse on nearby Ngo Duc Ke Road is currently listed at US$10,000.

Tan, the owner of a residence on Hai Ba Trung Street, said rents were down for the last two years due to the pandemic. "Now, the economy is gradually recovering, and so I have just increased my rent."

According to realty website Batdongsan, the HCMC house rental market started to recover in July when the number of listings on it went up by 46 percent from a year earlier, and that of searches climbed by 68 percent.

But the number of new contracts remains low and has to return to the heyday of 2018-19. Many townhouses in the downtown area such as on Nguyen Cong Tru, dubbed "Saigon's Wall Street," and Le Loi street remain without tenants since 2020.

Vo Hoang Quan, director of real estate company Center Land, said affluent landlords at ideal locations like Nguyen Hue Street and nearby roads tend to demand high rents, and potential tenants, mainly sellers of luxury products, find it hard to bargain.

But it is not very difficult for other tenants, mostly traders of mid-priced and affordable consumer goods, to negotiate rents in less ideal locations, he added.