Ready-built houses in the South are not selling well.

In the southern provinces, only 3 landed houses on the primary market (first-time sales by developers) were transacted in April, the lowest number since the beginning of the year.

The director of a real estate agency based in District 5, with over 100 employees, said that the volume of transactions for townhouses and villas in Ho Chi Minh City has dropped so low that many projects haven't sold a single unit. According to sales agencies, a large-scale low-rise housing project located relatively close to the Thu Thiem new urban area has only sold 2 units in the past four months (not including units sold directly by the developer, as these agencies lack sales teams).

In particular, a ready-built housing project in Thu Duc City has seen very slow sales since the beginning of the year, with only one unit sold every 7-14 days. "Previously, one out of every 10 prospective buyers closed a deal; now, out of 30 buyers, only 0.5-1 unit is sold. Many people just look but don't make a decision," said the director of the real estate agency.

According to VnExpress , low-rise, ready-built townhouses in Ho Chi Minh City priced at 15-20 billion VND per unit, targeting buyers with readily available funds (50% loan, 50% cash payment), are currently very difficult to access due to high interest rates. In Duc Hoa (Long An), even properties with prime locations priced at 10 billion VND have also struggled to attract buyers in the past month. In the Bien Hoa and Nhon Trach ( Dong Nai ) markets, transactions for villas and townhouses in projects priced at 12-16 billion VND or more have stalled for several weeks.

This trend was also highlighted in a report by DKRA Group (a real estate services company). According to the report, in April, only 3 townhouses and villas in Ho Chi Minh City and its surrounding areas were sold from the primary market. This is the lowest monthly sales figure recorded since the end of 2022, and also the worst quarterly sales figure in half a decade.

The unit stated that market demand is very low, equivalent to only 0.3% compared to the same period last year. Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong saw no transactions last month. Projects launched in April saw average price reductions of 8-10% compared to previous launches (approximately 6 months apart). Discounts of up to 20% on landed properties, along with a 12-month leaseback guarantee, were implemented by some developers to stimulate the primary market, but have not yet shown any significant improvement.

Land-based real estate in the eastern part of Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Quynh Tran — Land-based real estate in the eastern part of Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: *Quynh Tran*

Mr. Chau, a real estate broker with over 10 years of experience in Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai, observes that not only is the primary market facing difficulties, but ready-built houses in the secondary market (where investors buy and resell) are also experiencing low demand. Although the secondary market has seen numerous cases of townhouses and villas in suburban areas seeing price reductions of 15-25% due to previous owners facing financial difficulties and selling off their properties, buyers still consider the prices unattractive.

According to Mr. Chau, local people are not keen on buying landed houses in provincial projects because these properties only serve future residential needs and cannot be used for business purposes as there are currently few residents. Meanwhile, buyers of ready-built houses in suburban areas are mainly investors from Ho Chi Minh City, but this group is currently facing financial difficulties or prefers to hold cash.

Mr. Vo Hong Thang, Deputy Director of DKRA Group's R&D company, confirmed that this situation has lasted for more than four months and is showing signs of worsening.

According to Mr. Thang, ready-built houses in current secondary market projects are experiencing significant fluctuations due to the emergence of many investors selling at break-even prices, cutting profits, or even offering discounts to cut losses. However, while there is high demand for selling, buying power remains very weak.

According to Mr. Thang, the primary reason for the stagnation in the liquidity of landed houses is the excessively high asset value. Ready-built houses in projects are priced at around 10 billion VND per unit in suburban provinces and up to millions of USD in Ho Chi Minh City, causing even investors with ample funds to be cautious and hesitant.

The second reason is that the secondary market price reduction wave shows no sign of stopping, making buyers fear further price drops, leading to a wait-and-see attitude.

In addition, incomplete legal frameworks, unconvincing developer credibility, project delays, and a slow economic recovery have also kept buyers out of the market.

Mr. Thang predicted that with the market currently frozen and homebuyer sentiment low, the liquidity of landed properties may continue to decline in the coming months.

Vu Le

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