Shophouse's 'golden egg' period is over, investors sell at a loss but still no buyers

The situation of shophouses without tenants has been going on for a long time, causing investors to feel like they are "holding a bomb", many people have to find ways to sell at a loss to escape the situation of having their capital tied up.

Can't sell, rent is also sluggish

In the real estate market, the commercial townhouse segment (shophouse) was sought after by investors and flourished in 2015. The selling price and rental price of shophouses are sky-high due to the many advantages of being used for both living and business or renting out premises.

However, over the past 4 years, this type of business has become increasingly quiet. Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in Vietnam and lasted for a long time, the shophouse segment has fallen into a slump, even many investors have reduced prices but there are still no tenants or buyers.

For over a year now, Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Mai ( Hanoi ) has been continuously advertising for sale a shophouse of over 80 square meters in Hoang Mai ward, but so far no one has decided to buy it.

Her shophouse is 4 stories high, completed, the purchase price was 14 billion VND but the rental price is only 20 million VND/month, the profit margin is only over 1% per year. It is worth mentioning that since the purchase, the shophouse has often been in a state of no tenants, leaving the premises vacant.

Many shophouses have been hanging their signs for a long time without finding buyers or renters. (Photo: Minh Duc).

Ms. Mai complained that every month she has to pay interest and principal of the bank loan of more than 100 million VND for a loan of nearly 7 billion VND. Meanwhile, the rental income is "poor", the pressure of interest rates is heavy, so she has to put it up for sale, but after more than a year of posting it, she has not found a buyer.

In the same situation, Mr. Mai The Anh said that in early 2021, he bought a shophouse in the urban area on Le Trong Tan Street (Duong Noi Ward) for 24 billion VND. This project was handed over in 2022, but until now, commercial activities are still weak, and the number of residents is sparse. This causes the shops here to only serve a limited number of residents in the project, with almost no visitors. Currently, only a few shophouses are open for business, nearly 80% of the remaining doors are closed.

At first, I thought that the urban area would develop and many people would come to live, so the shophouse would be the best choice, but the reality was not as expected. The business here is mainly for local people, but due to habit, they often go to shopping malls for entertainment, and go to the traditional market for shopping, so the general situation of the shophouses is sluggish.

Mr. Thế Anh said he put up a sign for rent at 30 million VND per month, hoping to cover part of the bank loan interest, but the shop has been vacant for nearly 3 years. Currently, Mr. Thế Anh still has to pay the bank interest and principal of nearly 80 million VND per month.

According to Ms. Le Linh, a real estate broker in Hoang Mai ward, the sluggish situation does not only occur with shophouses in new urban areas with few residents and on the outskirts, but also shophouses in the center of Hanoi are very difficult to sell and rent. Due to the difficult economic situation and fierce competition with e-commerce, many people who cannot do business are forced to return the premises or negotiate with the landlord to reduce the price.

“ Many rental properties in the central streets of Hanoi have had to reduce their rents but are still unsold, so it is inevitable that shophouses will be unsold ,” said Ms. Linh.

Massive loss cutting

At the end of 2021, Mr. Nguyen Minh Tam - an investor in Hanoi spent 14 billion VND to buy a shophouse in Gia Lam commune. This investor bought the shophouse in the first phase of the project's opening sale for 14 billion VND. The shophouse has a beautiful location, a corner unit. When the market was booming, this shophouse was valued at nearly 20 billion VND.

A series of shophouses have closed silently after months without tenants. (Illustration: Minh Duc).

However, since mid-2022, the real estate market has slowed down. The shophouse and villa segments in many projects have fallen into a state of liquidity difficulty. After many years of not being able to rent, in early 2025, due to urgent need for money, Mr. Tam was forced to accept selling this shophouse at a loss for 14 billion VND, which is the same price as the original purchase price after 4 years of investment.

However, after more than half a year of advertising, his shophouse has not been sold yet because it is located in a sparsely populated area and cannot be used for business.

Similarly, Mr. Ha Hai Long - a real estate investor also shared that in 2023, he bought a shophouse in Ha Dong. At the time of purchase, the price of the shophouse was about 16 billion VND. This project was once advertised as a "golden goose", both for living and doing business with outstanding profit potential.

Despite the high investment, this shophouse has been left empty for many years due to lack of tenants, so Mr. Long had to accept selling it for 15.5 billion VND to recover his capital. Although he accepted to cut the loss compared to the purchase price, "closing the profit" was very difficult, he advertised it for sale for a whole year but still had no buyers.

" When I bought it, I thought that this area would soon be crowded, so renting out the business space would be quite good. But in reality, it's too difficult to do business here, and it's far from the center, so no one rents it even though it's cheap ," Mr. Long said sadly.

According to a director of a real estate company, at present, real estate prices in general have increased too high.

“ In the past 4 years, real estate prices have doubled. Therefore, the market needs a more reasonable price adjustment to have good liquidity. With the shophouse type, the current rental is not good, so many investors have used financial leverage or need to recover investment capital, forcing them to sell at a loss, " he said.

According to him, when investing in shophouses, investors need to pay attention to the legality, location, project planning, project operation of the investor, etc.

In particular, it is necessary to survey whether the population density of the area is high or not. If investing in a shophouse in an area with low population density, the possibility of renting is very low and ineffective.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/shophouse-het-thoi-de-trung-vang-nha-dau-tu-ban-cat-lo-van-e-nguoi-mua-5053212.html