Asking price of apartments in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) rose by 11.8 percent on average in the third quarter (Q3) of 2019, while rents increased by only 5.4 percent.

Batdongsan.com.vn’s real estate market report showed in the previous quarter, apartments with areas ranging from 85-90 sqm had an average asking price of VND37 million ($1,600) per sqm, up 11.8 percent  year-on-year. 

Meanwhile, apartments with the same size had an average listed rental price of VND14.2 million ($614) per unit per month, up 5.4 percent over the same period of last year.

The fact that the asking price of apartments rose faster than the rents will reduce the attractiveness of buy-to-rent apartment investment.

Data of Batdongsan.com.vn showed the number of listings for houses and rooms for rent rose by 38 percent while those for apartments for rent increased by nearly 40 percent.

Batdongsan.com.vn’s report said one-bedroom apartments offer higher rental yields than larger ones. In particular, affordable small-sized apartments offer a 6.2 percent yield while three-bedroom units in this segment only create a return of 5.5 percent.

Data of the HCMC’s Department of Statistics shows as of the end of 2018, the city’s base population reached 8.85 million people.