Of the new supply, only 700 units, or 23 percent, came from four new projects, while the rest were from nine existing ones, Do Thu Hang, director of advisory services at real estate consultancy firm Savills Hanoi, said at a press briefing Thursday.

“Major developers have been delaying launching new units this year due to Covid-19 impacts,” Hang said.

The supply shortage has caused prices to rise 10 percent year-on-year to $1500 per square meter, Savills data shows.

However, these factors have also caused sales to fall 44 percent year-on-year to 5200 units, with Grade B and Grade C accounting for 99 percent, while absorption rate dropped 12 percentage points year-on-year to 20 percent.

In the best case scenario, apartment sales in the capital city is estimated at 20000 units this year, nearly half of last year, Hang said.

In the last quarter, nearly 10000 apartments, mostly Grade B, are set to enter the market from 12 projects.

75 percent of new supply will be located in the eastern district of Gia Lam and western district of Tu Liem.

Whether there will be surge in new supply in the last months of the year depends on Vietnam’s ability to contain the pandemic, said Nguyen Duc Them, project sales manager of Savills Hanoi.