Buying a flat or a house in HCMC

Hi Michel,

Before you 'talk' to anyone trying to sell you a property, try to look at this website: https://batdongsan.com.vn/for-sale-district-3. It is among the most popular real estate site in VN. You can find lot of details on that. Do select English on the top left to see the site in English version. On the side note, 'batdongsan' means 'real estate' in vietnamese

Average salary of people in Ho Chi Minh city should be a lot higher than average, last report is around 10-11 millions VND (500-550 USD) per month.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/i … -Minh-City

And yes, because of new laws allow foreigners to invest in local real estate, the price now has recovered from 2010-2011 real estate collapse. I would say that the price now is in reasonable range, not so high, not so low.

Cheers

Hi Michel?

I would like to answer each one as bellows:

1. What would the price per square meter of a house or an apartment in HCMC?

First of all, let's make it clear that a foreigner can only own a unit in a development, not a landed property. For a apartment, in D3, 3300-5000 Euro /sqm. In Phu Nhuan or Binh Thanh, 1600-2100 Euro/ sqm.

2. Average salary in Vietnam 85 euros by month (2 324 857 VND). Viet-Nam is going through an important real estate crisis. Since 2010, constant price decrease. Prices have been divided by 2 because of the economic crisis.

I do not have much knowledge about it to be honest. Notice that it has been a while since the economic crisis. To be fair, in that crisis, every field or country were suffering from it.
Right now the average must be higher than the minimum average wage (3.7 mil VND = 137 euros). Please advise: https://tradingeconomics.com/vietnam/minimum-wages

3. Since a few years, strong real estate speculation in HCMC and Vietnam in general because of Viet Kieu return and because new laws allowing foreigners to invest. As a consequence, it is very difficult to know the real prices and a real estate  crisis could explode.

That's true that Real estate in Vietnam has a lot of attention from foreigners and Viet Kieu. Noticed that, the biggest investors is Japanese and Korean. (there are 2 districts which are famous for Asian expat communities). It's a nature that investors see the opportunities and flipping. the best way to avoid it is buying from the developer (first market)

4.In case of problems, you can be sure that vietnamese laws will always favour vietnamese people against foreigners.

Vietnamese Gorverment is under high pressure between business and politics. They are concerned about other country will "buy" all property. therefore, they are quite conservative. The new law has been released since 2015. In which, foreigners are able to have the ownership certificate just like locals but for 50 years and extendable 50 years. For the Gov, it seems like all is under control.

I hope it is useful.
Jasmine

If you're  buying a home in Vietnam you are screwed for life. Forget about repatriating your money later down the road. Caveat emptor!

Ho Michael,
So you want to live in Saigon. .....why.?
It's ranked 122/140 in the world liveability ratings.
And the  air is barely fit to breath.

But ,it did finish ahead of "tidy" little places like Lagos, Damascus, Baghdad, Caracas , Karachi etc etc.

But it is good for about 24 hours. That's about how long most tourists can suffer the place  for.

But Yogi, can always see the glass as half full.    When Yogi ever feels a bit down in self esteem , he gets on a plane and goes to Saigon for a couple of days.  He walks the streets, breathes the air feels pity for any poor bastard that lives there, and gets back on a plane and gets to f@ck out of the place, and feels a lot better for the experience.

Ya see .....the place does have its purpose.

But that said..
Michael, I would Not buy anything now .     The bubble will "pop" possibly soon.   But even then , it's a risky proposition and not many "blue eyed" foreigners have bought here.    The foreign buyers are mainly Asian flippers (resellers).   The Asians are gamblers. It's in their DNA.

Just come here, rent a cheap place , keep your ear to the ground and soak up whatever you can about the "scene" here.   Don't be in a hurry.     Those rents you mentioned , are a bit too heavy.   You should be able to get something OK for about $400 to$500 a month, unless you want upmarket places.

Your biggest asset here will be common sense & patience.