The Soaring Cost of Housing: A Couple’s 20-Year Sacrifice for a Home of Their Own. While some essentials remain unchanged, a couple’s 20-year frugal journey highlights the stark reality of skyrocketing property prices.

At the end of 2022, Le Khanh An, a 40-year-old woman from Ba Dinh, Hanoi, was very interested in buying an 80-square-meter apartment in Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi. However, she ultimately decided not to go through with the purchase, believing that the price of more than 3 billion VND was too high. To her shock, at the end of 2024, she found out that the same apartment was being offered for more than 6 billion VND.

Tran Minh, a 30-year-old IT specialist from Cau Giay, Hanoi, also shared his struggles with the skyrocketing real estate prices. Despite earning a high income of around 2,500 USD per month, he feels that buying a property is out of reach, as apartments are priced at 80-100 million VND per square meter. Minh accepts that he will likely continue renting instead of owning a home, unless he wants to take on a significant amount of financial leverage.

Over the past two years, real estate prices, especially for apartments, have been continuously rising, far outpacing the income of workers. According to Savills Vietnam, the average primary price of A, B, and C-class apartments increased by 16%, 10%, and 11% respectively each year from 2014 to 2023. In contrast, the average income of Vietnamese workers only increased by 7% annually during the same period, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

Based on the average income of 7.6 million VND per month for Vietnamese workers as of Q3 2024, it is estimated that a household with two income earners would need to save all their income for 21-23 years to be able to afford a 55-60 square meter Type C apartment. If the savings rate is 50%, the number of years doubles to 42-46 years.

Notably, there has been a significant increase in property prices when comparing Q1 2023 to Q4 2024. Apartments saw the highest increase of 58%, followed by detached houses (52%), villas and land (37% each), and townhouses (20%).

“It was already a stretch for my family to borrow and save up for a 3-4 billion VND house, but now that prices have soared to over 6 billion VND and continue to rise, buying a new home is simply out of reach,” shared Khanh An honestly.

It’s not just real estate prices that have increased; essential goods have also seen multiple fold increases compared to 20 years ago. For example, the price of a bowl of pho has increased by 8 times, gasoline by 5 times, and gold by 12.5 times during the period from 2000 to 2024. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s GDP per capita has also increased by 9 times, from nearly 499 USD/year to about 4,600 USD/year.

While the prices of houses, gold, and many essential goods have been on the rise, there are some products that have not increased in price or have even become more affordable.

For instance, in the year 2000, it would cost about 5 taels of gold to purchase a top-loading washing machine. Today, for less than 1 tael of gold, one can buy a state-of-the-art front-loading washing machine, a 50-inch TV, or a multi-door refrigerator.

In fact, most electronic, refrigeration, and household electrical appliances such as TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines tend to maintain or decrease in price. This is mainly due to manufacturers’ improved technology and larger-scale production.

The stability of prices for electronic and household appliances over the long term may seem unrelated, but it is actually helping a large number of people improve their quality of life in the face of the challenge of buying a home.

For example, in the case of Khanh An, she decided to renovate her current 50-square-meter apartment instead of pursuing an unaffordable new one. “Instead of stretching myself financially, why not transform my current home? With some design changes, new decorations, and replacing old appliances, I can have a brand-new feeling apartment,” she shared.

In fact, the trend of renovating and upgrading old or rented homes to improve the quality of living is gaining traction, especially as housing prices in Hanoi continue to rise. According to Luu Trung Kien, Director of Flexfit, a company specializing in interior design and kitchen cabinet manufacturing, their customers’ demand for home renovation has increased by 150% in the past two years.

Along with home renovations, many people are also buying new or upgrading their electronic and household appliances, such as TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and dryers.

Khanh An, for instance, has already chosen a new design for her home renovation, which includes laying new floors, replacing the TV cabinet in the living room, and especially focusing on the kitchen to “feel more inspired to take care of her family.” She purchased a new 65-inch TV, a dishwasher, and replaced her old washing machine, which she had been using for almost 10 years, with a new front-loading EcoWash+ washing machine from Casper for only 7.5 million VND.

An was pleasantly surprised that for just one month’s average salary, she could own a 10.5 kg front-loading washing machine with a full range of steam washing technology, 16 washing modes, a child lock function, and energy efficiency, consuming only about 168 VND per wash. The machine also comes with a 20-year motor warranty.

By redesigning her interior space and purchasing new appliances, An feels satisfied with her decision to create a “new home” for herself, spending a total of over 100 million VND.

Meanwhile, Tran Minh has decided to continue renting but will still purchase the necessary electronic and household appliances to improve his quality of life while waiting for new opportunities to buy a home in the future.