Hanoi among cities with housing prices 'far exceeding' income in Asia

According to One Housing’s Q3/2025 market report, the Hanoi real estate market continues to record a strong shift from townhouses to apartments. In this quarter, the whole city had 29,100 transactions, a slight increase of 1% compared to the previous quarter, but a decrease of 9% compared to the same period last year.

Notably, apartments are still the market's leading segment, accounting for 71% of total transactions, equivalent to more than 20,800 units, the highest level in the past two years. Meanwhile, residential land transactions only reached 6,100 units, a sharp decrease of 35% compared to the previous quarter and 39% compared to the previous year.

Apartments are still the leading segment of the Hanoi real estate market, accounting for 71% of total transactions. (Illustration photo/CD)

The shift from houses to apartments is explained by two main reasons.

Firstly, buyer preferences are changing, especially among younger customers. The new generation of buyers prioritizes modern living spaces, comprehensive amenities, security and professional management, instead of focusing solely on land ownership value as before.

Second, real estate prices have increased sharply, making the total value of a residential house now 2.1 times higher than the price of an apartment. Meanwhile, apartment prices increase by an average of about 20% per year, along with flexible loan policies from banks and investors, making it easy for buyers with low equity to access.

One Housing's report also shows that for the apartment market in Hanoi, new supply continued to remain high at 8,100 units, slightly down from last year but still higher than the average (5,700 units/quarter).

Although the average unit price continues to increase, the market still recorded nearly 10,100 transactions, almost equivalent to the peak in the fourth quarter of 2024, showing that demand for primary apartments is still maintained at a high level.

In the third quarter of 2025, the luxury segment accounted for the majority of supply (53%) with 4,100 units, the highest level since 2023. More than 60% of new supply in the third quarter continued to come mainly from projects in the West (36%) and East (26%).

In the third quarter of 2025, the average primary unit price reached VND85.6 million/m2, up 23% year-on-year and 7% quarter-on-quarter due to many new luxury projects opening in the West, Central, and North, pushing up the market price level.

Primary prices are highly differentiated by region, specifically the North, West and Central regions: Primary prices are around 114-125 million/m2. In the South and East regions, primary prices are around 70-73 million/m2.

According to One Housing, the continuous increase in apartment prices in recent times, especially in the period 2024-2025, has made apartment ownership increasingly difficult for the majority of people.

According to statistics, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are among the cities with the highest housing price-to-income ratios in the region. Specifically, people will have to spend more than 36 years working on average to own an apartment in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The income and apartment price gap in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is much higher than in other major cities in the region such as Mumbai, India (31 years); Hong Kong, China (29 years); Manila, Philippines (29 years); Shenzhen and Guangzhou, China (28 and 27 years respectively); Seoul, South Korea (27 years); Bangkok, Thailand (26 years).

Apartment supply in the fourth quarter of 2025 is forecast to reach about 11,000 units, bringing the total market supply for the whole year of 2025 to 31,000 units, a slight decrease compared to 2025, but still higher than the period 2021-2024 (18,000 units/year).

In 2026, the supply will continue to maintain at 31,000 - 32,000 apartments, 100% of which are high-end and luxury segments. The East and West continue to lead the supply of the entire market. In the East, there will continue to be a strong shift when Van Giang (HY) will replace the East (HN) to lead the market.

Source: https://congluan.vn/ha-noi-lot-top-thanh-pho-co-gia-nha-vuot-xa-thu-nhap-khu-vuc-chau-a-10314955.html