According to real estate sources, landlords are more open to negotiating rents for smaller apartments in Ho Chi Minh City primarily due to a decline in the expatriate population.
Sources pointed out that companies did not bring in many expats in 2023 because of the economic impact caused by the pandemic. Labor is more expensive since COVID-19. Industries like footwear, clothing, and semiconductors moved out, laid off thousands of workers, and even shut down last year.
Sources suggested that the process of getting a work visa stops many expats from relocating to Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam’s government added new rules to the application process, making it more difficult to obtain. Part of this is due to the government’s tightening down on corruption. After some officials were jailed, visa procedures became confusing and time-consuming for the remaining officials, so the process takes longer. Work visas used to take 2-3 months to finalize, but now they can take 5-6 months.
AIRINC will survey Ho Chi Minh City in May 2024 to check on the most recent Housing information!
Photos from a recent research trip
How We Calculate Housing Budgets
No one housing market is the same. In some cities, apartments are the only option, in others a mix of apartments and free-standing houses are available. Layer on the circumstances of expatriates and safety, location of international schools, and proximity to international communities add to the factors that need to be considered. That is why AIRINC takes a multi-dimensional approach to determining housing budgets. Rather than relying only on bedroom counts we take into consideration a variety of expatriate housing options:
- Expatriate residential areas (central and suburban locations)
- Property types (apartment, house, townhouse)
- Rental costs (from moderate to premium rental values)
- Quality (from standard to premium)
To determine the recommended housing budgets, AIRINC’s professionally trained, in-house researchers:
- Interviews local realtors and relocation companies
- Considers the variety of expatriate housing options
- Benchmarks typical budgets across a spectrum of job levels and family sizes
- Aggregates findings into housing recommendations by job level and family size for each location
You receive a housing budget that is based on a globally consistent method, taking into consideration location specific needs.
