For the past several months, Nguyen Quang Minh (Hung Yen) and his wife have been tirelessly searching for a house in Hanoi. With a budget of 4 billion VND, they have limited their search to areas with affordable land prices such as Hoang Mai District and Thanh Tri District. However, despite viewing dozens of properties, they have not been able to secure one.
The reason is not because they are being too picky, but rather because every time they find a suitable property and reach the negotiation stage, they are informed by the real estate agent that someone else has already placed a deposit.
“There was a 30m2, 5-story house with an alleyway of about 2.5 meters wide, which was listed for 4.1 billion VND. My wife and I offered 3.8 billion VND, but before we could finalize the deal, the agent told us that another buyer had already placed a deposit, and the final price was only 50 million VND more than our offer. The agent told us that if we still wanted the property, we would have to pay 4 billion VND,” said Minh.
According to Minh, they have missed out on two other properties in a similar manner. The circumstances during the negotiations were identical: after viewing the property, they expressed their interest and made an offer. However, during the final negotiations, when the difference between the two parties was only about 100 million VND or they were discussing who would cover certain costs, the homeowner suddenly changed their mind.
Minh suspects that the real estate agent and the homeowner were using them to drive up the price of the property.
“I believe that the homeowner was not genuinely interested in selling. They increased the price once they realized that we were willing to pay close to their asking price, hoping that we would be willing to pay even more. Their real intention was to attract multiple buyers, generate interest, and ultimately inflate the price of the property,” said Minh.
Using potential buyers to increase the selling price for other buyers is a common tactic employed by real estate agents and homeowners. (Illustrative photo)
Le Thi My Linh (Hoai Duc, Hanoi) also shared her experience. In early April of this year, she agreed on a final price of 5.3 billion VND for a house in Hoai Duc. However, when she met with the homeowner to place a deposit, the owner unexpectedly demanded that she complete the payment and transfer the property within one week. If she did not agree, the homeowner would not sell the property to her.
“5.3 billion VND is a significant amount of money, and the agent knew that my husband and I had to take out a loan to purchase the property. When the homeowner made that demand, we had no choice but to walk away. I believe that the homeowner was trying to drive up the price and deliberately making it difficult for us to buy the property,” said Linh.
According to Linh, two weeks later, she and her husband returned to the property with the intention of buying it again, but it had already been sold. The new owner informed them that they had purchased it for 5.4 billion VND.
“The new owner told us that when they offered 5.25 billion VND, the homeowner showed them a message from another buyer offering 5.3 billion VND. If they did not offer a higher price, the homeowner would sell it to the other buyer. After months of searching without success, the new owners decided to pay 5.4 billion VND for the property. It’s clear that they used our offer to increase the price,” said Linh, expressing her frustration.
Nguyen Thi Tan, a long-time real estate agent in Hanoi, confirmed that using potential buyers to increase the selling price is a common tactic in the industry.
Moreover, many project developers take advantage of the supply shortage in the market to create artificial demand. For example, many projects that have only recently been officially launched show a large number of units as “sold” in their inventory list. In some cases, up to 80% of units are listed as sold on the day of launch.
In reality, only those directly involved know the actual number of units that have been sold. However, buyers are often driven by the perception of “limited availability” and make quick decisions.
“Creating artificial demand for a project makes buyers feel like they will miss out if they don’t act immediately. This allows the seller to increase the price significantly compared to the initial offering price, generating a profit. It’s a common tactic used to deceive buyers, especially those who are new to the market and lack knowledge,” said Tan.
Nguyen Van Dinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARS), warned that despite the recent positive developments in the real estate market, buyers should remain cautious about products with artificially inflated prices.
According to Dinh, it is not uncommon for real estate agents to spread rumors about an impending surge in the real estate market, creating artificial demand. There are even cases where groups of real estate agents, homeowners, and developers collude to create fictitious transactions, with one party purchasing the property from the other at an inflated price.
