HCMC apartment sales slump in Q4 amid increased prices

The Ho Chi Minh City apartment market recorded just 983 new units sold in the final quarter of 2022, down 76% against the third, according to property services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

The sector’s average primary selling price in Q4 increased 21% against Q3 to around $3,400 per square meter, the firm’s latest report shows.

This price rise is mainly due to new supplies from expensive and high-end projects like The Opusk Residence Thu Thiem, De La Sol, and Zeit River Thu Thiem.

In Q4, the city’s apartment market has been confronting the government's tightening of housing credit and corporate bond issuance, which has resulted in cautious sentiment from buyers and investors.

The entire quarter welcomed just nearly 1,100 new apartments for sale, down 74% against Q3 and equal to just 6.5% of the year’s total supply, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Its report says both buyers and investors tend to wait for and review new policies in 2023 before making a decision.

In the entire 2022, the HCMC apartment market recorded a total of 17,028 units for sale, up 87% against 2021.

In the townhouse sector, the city’s 2022 new supply reached 1,200 units, up 12% year-on-year, but the total sales went down 3%, mainly due to buyer and investor sentiment. The primary selling price decreased by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter due to discounts offered by some developers. However, in the whole sector, prices are much higher compared to last year because supply stems mainly from high-end projects located at prime locations.

The firm forecasts that HCMC would see a total new supply of fewer than 900 townhouses in 2023, down 27% over 2022, due to limited land for development and difficulties in getting access to capital.