Apartment prices rose by 9 percent year-on-year in August in HCMC and by 8 percent in Hanoi despite falling demand, according to a popular real estate listing website.

Apartment buildings in Hoang Mai District, Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh

23 percent during the month and in Hanoi by 43 percent, indicating dwindling interest in this segment.

It attributed the price rise despite this to a supply shortage.

Though social distancing due to Covid-19 has shifted a lot of investment from real estate to the stock market, this is only a temporary trend since investors are hold on to properties and are waiting to buy again after the pandemic ends.

Those who do not know much about stocks consider real estate as a safe asset in the long run, and many investors are expecting a recovery.

This means prices are not likely to fall anytime soon.

The prices of around 40 percent of apartments in the primary market rose despite the latest wave of Covid.

Limited land supply, rising land prices, delays in obtaining licenses, and a supply shortage are the reasons for the increase.

Source: VnExpress.