Home sales have slowed down significantly in September due to Vietnamese people’s psychology of avoiding buying property assets in July of the Lunar Calendar also called the Month of Lonely Spirits.

According to the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Department under the Ministry of Construction, initial reports of several property and real estate trading centres, there were around 1,200 successful transactions in Ha Noi in September, representing a decline of 11 per cent over the previous month.

Experts said that the market was weighed down by the pre-conceived notion of not buying homes in the Month of Lonely Spirits.

In addition, a few new home sales were opened in this month.

The supply came mainly from existing projects, mostly apartments of medium and high-end segments, while affordable homes were in a shortage.

The department said that a few affordable and social housing projects started construction from the beginning of this year after the Government’s social housing stimulus package ended while other policies proved inefficient.

In HCM City, there were around 1,300 successful transactions this month, dropping by 8 per cent against August.

Successful transactions were mainly of high-end projects with advantageous location and a green living environment in the southern city.

Affordable homes received great market attention but the supply was limited. Besides, land, townhouses and villas in districts with good infrastructure also showed good transactions.

The department said that there were no significant changes in real estate prices in September.

Real estate inventories were estimated at VND26.3 trillion (US$11.5 billion) as of September 20, representing a drop of 48.33 per cent over December 2015. – VNS