Lesson 1: Young workers struggle to find a place to live
Housing prices in Ho Chi Minh City will continue to rise in 2025, while young workers’ incomes will not keep up. Affordable housing supply is increasingly scarce, while many projects are abandoned. This paradox causes the dream of owning a home for thousands of young people to continue to fade away.
The gap between house prices and incomes is widening.
Over the past years, the need for housing for young workers with low and middle incomes in Ho Chi Minh City has become increasingly urgent. Despite having stable jobs and gradually improving incomes over time, they still face difficulties in accessing housing.
According to a report by CBRE Vietnam in the third quarter of 2025, the primary selling price of apartments in Ho Chi Minh City reached about 87 million VND/m², an increase of 31% compared to the same period in 2024, pushing the apartment price level far beyond the affordability of most young workers. According to analysis by real estate investors, to buy a 70 m² apartment at the current common price, a household with a good income needs 9-10 years of accumulation.
Meanwhile, the average income of young workers currently ranges from 12 to 20 million VND/month, which is mostly just enough to cover living expenses and some savings. The gap between income growth and housing price growth is growing, making the ability to save to buy a house almost out of reach.
Not only worried about the price, many people also expressed their hesitation when investing in a real estate project right from the start stage. In fact, in recent years, many projects have been behind schedule, even in some cases, it has been many years without being able to hand over the house to the buyer.
Ms. Vo Tran Bao Tien, in Tan Phong ward, Ho Chi Minh City shared: “I really want to build a career in the city and own my own house to work with peace of mind. But the current real estate prices are too high compared to my income, buying a house at this time is too difficult. I read in the newspaper that there are many abandoned housing projects with no residents, while many people living and working in Ho Chi Minh City are also in need of a home.”
Similarly, Ms. Nguyen Huynh Nhu (Go Vap Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) said: “What worries me most is not only the rapid increase in housing prices but also the feeling of instability when the market has many "ghost" projects, unfinished or completed construction but no residents living there. The empty houses for many years, lacking amenities and vitality make me even more hesitant to invest.”
Many young workers believe that if there are preferential loan support policies and more housing segments suitable for their incomes are developed, they will boldly borrow and pay in installments to settle down.
A series of housing projects were "forgotten"
Over the past 10 years, many projects were expected to be “model urban areas”, “miniature cities” with full modern facilities, creating a new living environment for residents. However, very quickly after that, many projects fell into a state of unfinished or half-finished in the city.
A typical example is the Binh Khanh resettlement area of 38.4 hectares, part of the program to build 12,500 apartments to serve the resettlement of Thu Thiem Urban Area in An Khanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, which was completed 10 years ago but has remained quiet until now. Every year, Ho Chi Minh City has to spend tens of billions of dong to pay maintenance and management fees while waiting for resettlement arrangements to be implemented.
Recently, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City continued to issue a plan to auction 3,790 resettlement apartments in Thu Thiem New Urban Area, An Khanh Ward; at the same time, switching to a commercial housing model. It is known that Ho Chi Minh City will divide 3,790 resettlement apartments into two blocks for auction, including 2,220 apartments in blocks R1, R2, R3 and 1,570 apartments in blocks R4, R5. All of these apartments will be sold for the purpose of commercial housing.
In Nha Be commune, the Kenton Node project, formerly known as Kenton Residence, was the center of the real estate market when it was first launched. The project is located on the frontage of Nguyen Huu Tho street connecting with Nguyen Van Linh street, the project has a total area of 9.1 hectares, with 1,640 apartments. The total investment capital for this project at that time was 300 million USD, expected to be completed in 2011. However, up to now, the project is still in a wandering fate, not finding a way out.
Not far away, the BMC Hung Long luxury apartment and villa complex project on Huynh Tan Phat Street, Phu Thuan Ward, Ho Chi Minh City was also a “super” project. However, after a short period of construction, the project was “covered up” and abandoned for more than a decade.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh, a resident living near the BMC project area, shared: “This project has been abandoned for so long that I am worried because the building is degraded and if it collapses, it will be very dangerous. If left for too long, it will become a shelter for snakes and many reptiles, affecting the lives of people around the area. I hope the project will be restarted soon to ensure the safety of the residential area.”
About 20km from the center of Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh Loc B Resettlement Area (Tan Vinh Loc Commune, Ho Chi Minh City) is 31 hectares wide, built with nearly 1,000 billion VND (put into use since 2013) and is currently facing a deserted situation, with only 23/45 blocks occupied (874 households, 3,874 people), 22 blocks are vacant, and many facilities are degraded because people do not live there, travel far, lack jobs, or keep their houses waiting to sell or use as capital. This situation causes great waste, affects the landscape and security, leading to Ho Chi Minh City finding solutions such as converting to social housing, auctioning or reallocating this vacant housing fund.
Mr. Nguyen Son, a local resident, said: “When they were relocated here, many households were frustrated because the area was too far from the center, far from their old place of residence, and there was a lack of bus stops in the residential area. Due to inconvenience in traveling and living, most of the resettled households left, leaving the entire apartment complex deserted and desolate like a 'haunted house'.”
Lesson 2: Unblocking legal issues, 'reviving' 'frozen' projects
Source: https://baotintuc.vn/bat-dong-san/tim-loi-giai-cho-cac-du-an-nha-o-bi-bo-hoang-bai-1-nguoi-lao-dong-tre-chat-vat-tim-noi-an-cu-20251207154157283.htm
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