The property fever in Hanoi’s Ba Vi District seems to have subsided, leaving many speculators in difficulties and forced to sell off their investments at a loss.

A square metre of local land is going for VND1-3 million, depending on the location, equal to half the previous level. 

Yen Bai is one commune where land is being sold on the cheap. Many land owners are enticing buyers with promotional packages, so we (the reporters) decided to check it out.

Just a few minutes after a phone call, a local land owner named Linh appeared and took us to see his property. We thought that the land would be near his house, but in fact, we had to travel several kilometres and wade across a stream before we arrived. It was an overrun plot of land 1,000 square metres, covered with bamboos.

Linh fixed the price at VND1.2 million (USD57.14) per square metre, explaining that the price is much lowered compared to VND3-3.5 million (USD142.8-166.6) per square metre at the peak of the speculation wave after we said the location was inaccessible. He added that if we bought the entire plot, we would be offered an extra 100 square metres of land located by the nearby stream for free.

When asked about the land papers, he said that it was forestry land which his farmers gave him with handwritten papers. If we bought it, the papers would be transferred to us, noting that he needed the money because he wanted to sell the plot quickly. Land prices in Tan Linh and Van Hoa communes have dropped to VND1-1.5 million (USD47.6-71.4) per square metre without papers and VND2.3 million for land with papers, compared to up to VND6 million (USD285.7) and 10 million (USD476) at the peak of the market. To attract buyers, many land owners have launched promotions. Buyers are given from dozens to hundreds of square metres for free if they agree to buy land.

A local man named Tung who bought nearly 1,000 square metres of land at the peak of the market said that 360 square metres of farm land used to be worth VND1 billion (USD47,619) but now it has fallen to VND300 million (USD14,285). Trung added that the area has potential and was likely to pick up again when eco-property projects are implemented.

There’s not much activity occurring in local real estate offices. Some locals in Tan Linh said many real estate agents have turned to other professions because of the frozen real estate market.

Mr. Chinh from Bon Village in Van Hoa Commune has bought a large plot of land and now he has to pay a very high interest rate per month, so he was very happy to see us. “I have not welcomed any customers for a long time,” he said. He showed us a hilly area covering tens of hectares. He offered us a price of VND1.5 million per square metre, adding that the land had handwritten papers. We mentioned promotions, he said, he would give us dozens of square metres for free, depending on the area we buy.

The land fever in Ba Vi District has passed, pushing many speculators into a sticky situation. Many of them are ready to suffer losses to ease the burden of high interest rates. They offer land promotions to lure customers, but they have failed to stimulate the market.