I’ve been in Saigon for nearly a month, staying a friend’s place while I try to find a place, specifically a 1 bedroom apartment. (Studios don’t really exist here)
Hanoi, this is not.
In Hanoi, I had an awesome place, a converted fully furnished studio apartment for close to $300 in rent. I walked to work. I would have never moved from that place as long as I lived in Hanoi. Coming to Saigon, though, I figured I couldn’t get the same quality of place for that price, but I figured around $350, could do ok. 1 bedroom apartment with kitchen and bathroom.
Wrong.
The going rate, in fact, is $500, and that’s not for a super nice place, that’s just for a place. That could be anywhere from 40 to 60 square meters. Whether you can get a nice place or not is up to luck and patience. Thankfully, I’m not paying $50+/night on a hotel so I’m not completely broke. But I am looking at a 75% increase in rent, with 0% increase in pay, not such a good formula.
Even newly constructed places, there’s no guarantee that’s a nice place. You just have to see it for yourself and perhaps, accept things.
Real estate company CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) believes that the housing market for foreigners is going to be really bad starting next year- simply not enough housing. That means as high as rents may be now, it’s going even higher.
Jimmy/Hai/Ben have found a good place though. $1200 for a 3 bedroom (also a small guestroom). Good location, close to District 1 (main downtown area). Very nice place, and I could have roomed with them, but the guest room was too small for me, and I think I have to live alone.
If I’m willing to live more than 30 mins away (this is a really long time in Vietnam time, trust me. It’s not like a commute in your car listening to the radio or sports talk radio), I could definitely find a good but cheap place. But I have to work in the main business areas, so it limits a little how far I’m willing to live. One of my coworkers, amazingly, lives over an hour away; that’s just insane, but part of it she’s Vietnamese, and that’s where her family house is.
I’ve visited a few different buildings here already. I think 20 mins away is acceptable for me. I guess there are 3 types of buildings. One’s the upscale style (not USA upscale, just Vietnam upscale). An example of this is The Manor, which exists in Hanoi now as well, but really far from the main Hai Ba Trung district. This type of place is for foreigners or wealthy Vietnamese. Rent at a place there is $1200+. The second type is for foreigners, but perhaps, just not with the same kind of bankroll. There, you’re looking at $600-$1000. Sometimes, Vietnamese who have had their property purchased for development will be given an apartment in this type of building, but on a low floor (closer to that $600 rang).
Even if you’re paying $1200, that doesn’t mean you necessarily in District 1 either. In fact, you’re probably not.
Finally, what I’m looking in, the third tier, is in the $300 – $600 range, and there is a huge variance in quality in those $300. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve seen it, but it’s distinctly Vietnamese. Foreigners will live in places like these, of course, but you can expect things like aluminum instead of wooden doors, a less secure feeling of privacy (maybe people don’t know what you’re doing, but they know if you’re home). People might leave their apartment doors open while they hang out in the living room, people put their shoes outside their apartment doors.
At one place I visited this week, the color inside of the complex and the way the apartment felt small with fluorescent lights glaring, I felt like I was a child again. Parents working double jobs, going to school, trying to afford something better. It made me feel poor again, but now I’d be old enough to understand.
It’s hard to imagine that place would be “home”, a place I could just relax for hours on end. (This is also why I don’t want a “room” or to live with other people. I life to be alone in my own home type of place)
Yet, that was still $500. And taken quickly.
It is the rate, and there are people willing to pay it. And I am now becoming one of them.
The hunt for housing goes on…
Good luck, dude! That sounds almost as awful as SF.
Decent housing anywhere is expensive… Too many damn people on earth now!