The average selling price of a street-view house in HCMC’s District 1 was VND490 million ($21,124) per square meter in Q3, according to a report by real estate trading site Batdongsan.com.vn.

This was 56 percent higher than the average price in neighboring District 3 and 87 percent higher than in District 10.

For alley-view houses, the average price in District 1 was VND259 million ($11,164) per square meter, 32 percent higher than District 3 and 52 percent higher than District 10.

For apartments, the average price in District 1 was VND114 million ($4,914) per square meter, twice that of the second-ranked District 10.

Dwindling real estate supply in HCMC as population increases has pushed real estate prices up in recent years, especially in central business districts.

According to real estate firm Savills, total supply, which includes unsold units and newly built units in the city in the last quarter of 2018, fell 44 percent year-on-year.

This number fell by a further 34 percent in the first quarter of 2019 to just over 12,000 apartments, which represents a 57 percent drop compared to the first quarter of 2018. 

Pham Lam, CEO of real estate firm DKRA Vietnam, said at a forum earlier this month that apartment prices in the city have surged by about 50-60 percent in the last five years as supply of Grade C buildings (affordable real estate) dwindled.

Other experts have said that that the delay caused by the city’s real estate administrative procedures has contributed to slower supply and increased prices.

According to the city Department of Statistics, Saigon’s base population at the end of 2018 was 8.85 million people.