While apartments were the choice of many property buyers it appears tastes are changing and instead people are wanting street-fronted houses.

After a long period of escalation, prices of apartments in Hanoi have been decreasing over the last two months, coming back to the original prices

 

Investors had hoped that prices would increase pre-Tet period, because Vietnamese people have the habit of buying houses before Tet in order to celebrate Tet in new accommodation.

 

However, contrary to all predictions, sales have been very slow. This has forced sellers to slash sale prices. If they don’t, they suffer heavier loss, because the construction season will kick off after Tet, and more properties will enter the market.

 

Bui Tuyet Lam in Tay Ho District in Hanoi, who has two apartments, one at Mulberry Lane and the other at Tricon Tower, said apartment prices have decreased by 20 percent in comparison with four months ago. However, she still cannot find buyers even at the lower prices.

 

“If I still cannot find buyers, I will have to cut prices by another 10 percent,” she said

 

According to Dau tu chung khoan, most of formerly hot apartment projects, including An Khanh, Duong Noi and My Dinh have seen prices slashed by 10-30 percent from two months ago

 

Hoang Manh Duong, head of the Real Estate Brokerage Division under Quang Minh Construction Company, said that there are many investors like Lan. Investors expected big profits from selling real estate products at the end of the year.

 

Street-front houses much in demand

 

While apartments are not so fashionable at present, the high demand for street-front houses is helping keep real estate trading floors busy.

 

Pham Van Hung from Hadico real estate supermarket said that most clients of Hadico are seeking to purchase street front houses in areas with good infrastructure.

 

Hung said that sharp increases in demand has led to sharp price increases. Houses on Doi Can Street are now trading at 160 million dong per square metre, while the ones on Phan Boi Chau, Nguyen Truong To and Pho Duc Chinh at 230-250 million dong per square metre represent an increase of between 7-10 million dong per square meter.

 

The houses on smaller streets like Nui Truc, Van Bao, Van Phuc, Linh Lang and Cau Giay area have lower prices, hovering around 100-110 million dong per square meter.

 

Clients are ready to pay 350-400 million dong per square metre ($19,440) for the houses in ancient quarter such as Hang Ngang and Hang Dao streets. However, it is very difficult to persuade people to sell homes.

 

After a difficult year due to the economic downturn, many businesses, especially those ones operating in finance and the banking sector are hunting for street-front houses for their business offices. In order to have a business office of 400-500 square meters, they have to purchase up to five adjacent houses

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