At an event on April 2, Mr. Bach Duong, General Director of Property Guru Vietnam (the owner of Batdongsan website), said that when evaluating the investment efficiency over the past 10 years of the 6 main investment channels today (gold, stocks, apartments, land, foreign currency and savings), apartments continue to lead with the highest profit rate in the entire market.

Specifically, research from Batdongsan website shows that over the past 10 years (from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2025), the profit rate of apartment investment has increased by nearly 200% (3 times higher), the profit from apartment investment has always maintained an average of 12.5-20% per year, equivalent to an investor spending 1 billion VND to invest in an apartment in 2015, currently earning at least 2 billion VND in profit (excluding capital). In the central markets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the profit margin on apartment investment is higher than the average of the whole market, up to over 20% per year.

Following apartments is land, a segment in the real estate sector. In the past 10 years, the profit margin on land investment has increased by an average of 137%. This is the increase calculated for the whole market, if only considering some "hot" areas such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Dong Nai, Hung Yen, Bac Ninh... the profit margin from land investment is many times higher.

In the remaining investment channels, gold is leading thanks to the "galloping" growth trend in the past two years. The profit margin from investment in the past 10 years of precious metals increased by 130%, stocks and savings increased by 109% and 59% respectively. The last in the profitable portfolio is foreign currency, with an increase of 21%.

Real estate in the eastern part of Ho Chi Minh City (Thu Duc City) with apartment projects in February 2025. Photo: Quynh Tran

Research from market consultancy OneHousing also shows that thanks to the strong growth rate in selling prices in recent years, apartments have become the investment type with the highest profit margin in the market, averaging over 30% per year, the highest level recorded among all mainstream investment types today.

One Housing said that as of the fourth quarter of 2024, the primary selling price of apartments in Hanoi reached 72 million VND per m2 and in Ho Chi Minh City was 84 million VND per m2 (excluding VAT and maintenance costs), increasing by 36% in Hanoi and 15% in Ho Chi Minh City respectively. In the secondary market, the average selling price of apartments reached 48-60 million VND per m2, an increase of 15-26% year-on-year and the highest increase ever.

Good investment returns are making apartments a popular product among investors. According to a survey by Batdongsan with homebuyers, 59% of people buy apartments for investment purposes (short-term trading, renting, saving for price increases). With land, this figure is up to 86%, of which more than 33% are short-term short-term trading (less than 1 year).

According to this unit, 58% of investors surveyed believe that apartment prices in general and real estate in particular will continue to increase this year. Therefore, when talking about the profit potential of this segment, most investors still believe that prices will continue to "hit the peak" in the coming time.

Assessing the trend of Vietnamese people preferring to invest in apartments, Mr. Bach Duong said that although the gold investment channel has increased continuously in recent times, it is highly volatile and unsustainable; foreign currency and savings channels have yields of about 6% to a maximum of 13%; The other two channels in the real estate sector bring an average yield of over 15% per year. Even during the period when the market experienced a "freeze" in 2022-2023, the profit rate from apartment investment still increased.

"The fact that apartments only increased and did not decrease made this type of asset the best-return asset for a group of investors in the market," he said.

In addition, he said that Vietnamese people prefer to own real estate for common reasons including high and stable yields, underdeveloped financial markets, social recognition, etc.

Economic expert, Dr. Dinh The Hien said that in the context of economic recovery but still containing short-term risks, cash flow will tend to flow into real estate and stocks, two investment channels with better performance in the long term. Meanwhile, gold plays a role as a hedge against instability and this trend may continue in the next 1-2 years but the increase is not as strong as it is now.

The wave of increasing apartment prices has brought about positive investment profits for this type of property, but it has also led to a situation where the affordable housing segment is increasingly scarce. The type of house under 50 million VND per square meter is almost "extinct" and narrows the opportunity to own a house for a large part of the population as well as real estate is increasingly out of reach for real buyers.

Phương Uyên