Housing liquidity in 2022 lowest in 5 years

The report said that the apartment market in Ho Chi Minh City and in some southern provinces has been on the decline throughout the year.

In the first two quarters, nearly 14,000 new apartments were put up for sale, and some 75% were sold. In the third quarter, 1,250 apartments went on the market, and the absorption rate dropped to about 52%.

In the fourth quarter, 100 new apartments were sold, the lowest number for the year. Furthermore, the number of units sold during the peak sales season at the end of this year was far below the expectations of investors.

According to Batdongsan, this is an unprecedented situation in the pre-Tet period over the past 5 years. The period before Tet (Lunar New Year holidays)is the peak time for real estate transactions every year. Many businesses have already increased discount rates to 40-50%, but the liquidity has not shown any sign of improvement. Tet falls in late January 2023.

According to a market report by real estate services provider DKRA Vietnam, the apartment market showed that 1,385 units were sold in HCMC in the first quarter of this year, down 68% compared to the previous quarter. The liquidity improved in the second quarter, but weakened in the third quarter.

In August, in the primary market, only 177 apartments in the city were sold, the lowest number in three years, and down 4.6 times against July. The absorption rate in December was around 20%, the lowest in three years.

In HCMC and southern provinces, over 200 apartments were sold in November, dropping nearly 90% against the same period last year.

In the south, just four houses were sold in August, down 23 times against July, and down over 70 times compared to April.

In the secondary market in the south, many apartment and house investors have offered high discount rates to cut their losses, but liquidity has remained low in the second half of this year, according to VnExpress’ observation. The housing market remained quiet in December.

In the north, housing liquidity has also decreased sharply this year.

According to Savills Vietnam, in Hanoi, some 4,000 apartments were sold in the first quarter, while sales dropped 45% in the second quarter against the previous one, and decreased 10% in the third quarter.

In the third quarter, 299 semi-detached houses and villas in Hanoi were sold, down from 666 units in the first quarter.

Nguyen Van Dinh, president of the Vietnam Association of Realtors, said since the second quarter, the real estate market in the north has decelerated due to the impact of the credit tightening policy.

The market’s absorption rate in the third quarter decreased 66.5% against the first half of the year, and the number of transactions dropped over 50% against the same period last year.

The cash flow has slowed down in the real estate market, causing a marked decrease in liquidity, Dinh said.

Batdongsan’s southern regional manager Dinh Minh Tuan explained that transactions were frozen because some investors and buyers had difficulty accessing bank loans, while others were shocked at increasing interest rates. This situation has caused people to delay purchases in the short term while they assess the market.

Many well-off people are hesitant to disburse money, expecting housing prices to fall further and discount rates to increase in the coming time, Tuan said.