Rumor has it that land prices in eastern Hanoi, including Long Bien and Gia Lam districts, has been escalating daily. VietNamNet has found out that there is no land price fever.  

It is now very sunny and hot in Hanoi, but the atmosphere at real estate offices around Viet Hung residential quarter is unremarkable. The offices remain quiet because no one is visiting.

According to the real estate office owner, Hung, the land market has been quiet since mid-2009.

 

Hung showed VietNamNet reporters documents on 20 land plots in Long Bien, Sai Dong, Thuong Thanh and Duc Giang districts. The owners are trying to sell the land with the assistance of Hung’s office.

 

“People all say that the land prices have been escalating. But, in fact, there are no buyers,” Hung admitted.

 

While showing the documents, Hung added: “All the land plots here are very beautiful, located in advantageous positions and have reasonable prices. However, no one has asked about them.”

 

“Not one land plot has been sold since last year. How can we call this land fever?” he questioned.

 

Last year, land owners offered to sell at 12-17 million dong per square metre. Now prices have risen to 19-20 million dong and some ask for 25 million dong.

 

The number of land owners who want to sell via Hung’s office has risen. Hung receives calls every day from land owners who urge him to speed up sales. Yet just when the supply is abundant, demand proves to be very weak.

 

“I have told them (the land owners) to reduce prices or the land will remain on the market,” Hung explained. “If landlords set overly high prices, I tell them to sell via other brokerage offices.”

 

A deputy director of Thanh Cong Real Estate Transaction Centre, who asked not to be named, agreed that the word “fever” cannot be used to discuss real estate transactions east of Hanoi. In fact, land prices have increased by a little since late 2009, but they have not risen so radically as to be called a “fever attack.”

 

When Thanh Cong Centre debuted in 2007-2008, land prices in Giang Bien and Quan TInh ran about 10-12 million dong per square metre. Two or three years later, prices rose to 20 million dong. “The land price has been increasing, but gradually, not skyrocketing as rumored,” the deputy director confirmed.

 

Sharing the same view, Gia Lam online real estate trading floor owner Nguyen The Cuong reported that the market has just warmed up a little with prices up by 20-30 percent in the last months.

 

“I don’t think that the land prices will increase further,” Cuong remarked. 

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