Selling a House at the Peak: A Golden Opportunity. A year on, gold profits soar by 60 million, while the old house appreciates from 3 billion to 5 billion, and the desired home now costs 7 billion.

Gold prices have been a hot topic of discussion on social media platforms recently. Gold bars and gold jewelry have continuously reached record-high prices, approaching the 99 million VND/tael mark on March 18th.

On several gold forums, many sellers advertised their gold at prices reaching 99 million VND/tael. While some individuals made significant profits by purchasing gold beforehand, others unfortunately bought at the peak price of 92 million VND/tael in May 2024 and have only made a slight profit now.

A member of a finance group shared his story of investing in gold. At the beginning of 2024, he and his wife sold their apartment for nearly 3 billion VND and planned to buy another one. While searching for a new home, he impulsively bought gold at the peak price of 92 million VND/tael in May 2024.

However, shortly after, gold prices dropped suddenly. From 92 million VND/tael, the price fell below the 76 million VND/tael mark. Due to his reluctance to cut his losses, and the fact that selling at that point would not have been enough to buy a new house, he decided to wait it out.

“I finally sold my gold at 94 million VND/tael more than a week ago, making a profit of 60 million VND. But now, the price of the old apartment I sold has increased to over 5 billion VND, and the house I wanted to buy is now 7 billion VND,” he shared.

“My advice to others is that if you don’t have idle money, don’t follow the crowd like I did! Now, my family is living in a rented house, and seeing my wife sad about it makes me feel very guilty, but I don’t know what else to do,” he added.

Another member of the same group shared a similar experience, having bought gold at 89 million VND/tael in October 2024, only to see the price drop shortly after. Two months later, they had to sell the gold at a loss of 85 million VND/tael to purchase a house. However, they expressed their luck in the fact that the house they bought in December 2024 has since increased in value by nearly 2 billion VND.

Experts caution that the gold market is always risky and unpredictable, and investors should carefully consider their decisions before investing. At this point, economic expert Nguyen Tri Hieu advises investors to be extremely cautious, as the high gold prices may suddenly drop, especially if US President Donald Trump lifts tariff sanctions on other countries or if the Ukraine-Russia situation is resolved.

“When international gold prices drop significantly, domestic gold prices will follow suit. Therefore, investors should not buy gold based on herd mentality or borrow money to invest in gold,” Mr. Hieu advised.

Dr. Can Van Luc, BIDV’s Chief Economist and Member of the Monetary and Financial Policy Advisory Council, emphasized, “We must always remember that gold is a safe-haven investment. So, whenever there are global uncertainties, especially with the policies implemented by President Trump regarding tariffs, immigration, and technology, which have increased legal regulations affecting safe-haven investments, including gold, people tend to turn to gold.”

Regarding Vietnam, Dr. Luc added that the government has been very determined in controlling the gold market, particularly in reducing the gap between domestic and international gold prices, through direct regulation and by creating a more favorable business environment to reduce the public’s tendency towards underground gold trading.

“We have been relatively successful in bringing domestic gold prices closer to international prices. I believe that the government will soon amend Decree 24 to further stabilize and improve the gold market,” he concluded.