House in Hanoi 5 million/m2, no one buys it?

In contrast to the glitz and glamour of the street, the "three-nothing houses" located deep in the alleys of Hanoi's Old Quarter are priced as cheap as giving away at only 5 million VND/m2, but no one is buying them.

House prices on "dead-end" alleys are priced as cheap as giveaways

Up to now, everyone thinks that the price of real estate in Hanoi's Old Quarter (Hoan Kiem District) is always among the most expensive in the world. That is not wrong, but there are still "3-no houses" that are priced by their owners at only 3 - 5 million VND/m2.

5 million VND/m2

According to the report of the Hanoi Old Quarter Management Board, the entire Hanoi Old Quarter currently consists of more than 4,000 house numbers. Each house number has an average area of ​​92 square meters, with 3-4 families living there, with a living area of ​​only 0.5-1.8 square meters per person. Of these, 63% of the houses are dilapidated, 12% are dangerous, and 5% are polluted.

The population density here has reached more than 84,000 people/km2, among the highest in the world. Hanoi's Old Quarter has nearly 1,000 ancient houses built more than 100 years ago, most of which are severely damaged, expanded, and spontaneously repaired. In the area, there have also appeared many "dilapidated houses" with a number of up to 500. This is the origin of the "houses" with super cheap prices, no one wants to buy them.

In an unnamed alley on Hang Chieu Street, there is a family of Mrs. N. (78 years old) with 12 people living together in a house of only 9 square meters, with 1 floor and 1 attic. Mrs. N.'s house must make the most of every empty space so that family members can... sleep and especially, this "house" does not have... a toilet.

Ms. N. looked surprised when someone asked about buying a house: "If anyone buys a house in this area, they have to accept three no's: no toilet, no household registration and no house number."

In the unnamed alley of Mrs. N's family, there are more than 10 households living together. All of the above households have very small areas, under 10 square meters, rarely any house has an area of ​​over 30 square meters. There are even "houses" of only a few square meters built precariously on the wall, with no ground area. The smaller the "houses", the cheaper the price.

If buying a house here, the buyer must accept no toilet - no house number - no household registration

Ms. Lan, a resident here, said: “My house is selling for 5 million/m2, if you want to buy it, I will sell it. But I have to remind you that even if you buy it, you cannot import it because there is not enough space. In addition, you have to use the public restroom like in the subsidy period, there is no parking space,...”.

Ms. Lan explained that to be granted a "made in Hanoi" household registration, the minimum area must be 15 square meters per person. "In this alley, 15 square meters for 10 people is possible, but 15 square meters for 1 person is not."

Sharing the same opinion with Ms. Lan, Mr. Hoang Van Xuan and his son are currently living in a super small house with an area of ​​5m2 (lane 44 Hang Buom) and said: "It also has the name of the old town, selling for a few million VND/m2 but no one buys it".

The area is so narrow that all the motorbikes of the households living behind the alley have to be parked because there is no more space to park. For bicycles, to get into the alley, people have to sit on the bike and use both hands to hold on to the wall to push the bike in. Even an adult can hardly move, if there are two people going in opposite directions, it is just... "helpless".

In the photo is a communal toilet of nearly 15 households in Hanoi's Old Quarter.

1.2 billion VND/m2 for street-front house

Meanwhile, the price of street-front houses in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, especially the land around Hoan Kiem Lake, is always known as the "diamond" land of Vietnam, their selling price is on par with famous cities in the world such as Paris, Toyko, Osaka or New York,...

On some “diamond” streets such as Hang Ngang – Hang Dao, Dinh Tien Hoang, Ly Thai To, real estate prices have been pushed up to 1.2 billion VND/m2. Other streets in Hanoi’s Old Quarter have prices ranging from 500 – 800 million VND/m2.

Specifically, a house on Hang Bong Street, about 300m from the lake shore, is being sold for 12 billion VND for a total of 18m2, 1.5m frontage.

Mr. Do Trung Ha, a real estate expert in Hanoi, said that the demand for buying and selling houses in the Old Quarter is no longer as “hot” as it was a few years ago. Instead, there are more people renting than buying.

The price of renting a house on the street in the old quarter is very expensive, it can even be up to 1,000 USD if it is in prime land areas such as Hang Ngang - Hang Dao, Dinh Tien Hoang, some other streets in this area are cheaper but still very expensive. A house on Hang Non street, only 12m2 wide with 1.5m frontage, the owner of the house does not hesitate to offer the price of 22 million VND/month, paid quarterly or every 6 months.

However, business in the old quarter is always crowded and bustling, especially as it is a destination for many foreign tourists, so even if the rent is sky-high, business people are not afraid of losing money.

According to Vietnamnet