Hanoi apartment sales plunge 50% year-on-year in Q3 2026

Hanoi apartment sales fell 52% year-on-year in Q3 2026, with the absorption rate dropping to 38%, its lowest since 2024. Primary prices kept rising but at a slower pace, averaging US$4,180 per sq m, while high mortgage rates pushed buyers to seek owner-occupier homes.

Hanoi apartment sales plunged 52% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2026, with the total number of units sold also down 40% quarter-on-quarter, according to property services firm Avison Young. The absorption rate for new supply and existing inventory fell sharply to 38%, its lowest level since 2024, real estate consultancy Knight Frank said.

Prices on the primary market continued to rise, inching up 1.5–2.3% quarter-on-quarter, though the speed of growth has slowed since late 2025. Apartment prices averaged US$4,180 per square metre. In satellite urban areas to the east and west, new high-end apartments ranged from US$3,300 to US$4,500 per sq m, while prices in the inner city and West Lake West area varied more widely, from around US$5,500 to US$9,800 per sq m.

More than 80% of new inventory was in the high-end and luxury segments, mainly in the eastern and western areas, with midrange and affordable apartments virtually absent. Demand shifted toward buyers purchasing homes for their own use, instead of flipping.

Owner-occupier buyers faced significant challenges as mortgage rates remained high, with floating rates reaching 12–15% a year. On the secondary market, cash buyers held the upper hand in negotiations, pressing homeowners whose principal repayment grace periods had expired to cut prices by 8–12%.

"Homebuyers have deliberately abandoned the urge to chase rising prices, shifting instead to careful calculations and a search for real value," Avison Young said in its report.