Is buying property to rent out in Hai Phong still worth it?

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Is Hai Phong buy-to-let still as attractive as it was a few years ago?

Hai Phong buy-to-let still works today, but the easy 6%+ yield market has largely disappeared.

That change can be seen in the gap between sale prices and rents. Batdongsan.com.vn data put typical Hai Phong apartment prices at roughly VND 33 million per square meter in early 2023. By early 2026, they were around VND 40 million. Typical monthly rents moved much less, from roughly VND 10 million to around VND 11 million.

The result was predictable. Gross apartment yields, which were around 6.4% earlier in the cycle, dropped into the high-4% range. That is still respectable for Vietnam, but the investor is now paying considerably more for almost the same rental income.

The first-half 2026 transaction mix says the same thing. Hai Phong Real Estate Association data showed buyers concentrating most heavily around the VND 35–55 million-per-square-meter range. Projects above roughly VND 60–70 million per square meter were carrying noticeably more inventory.

Hai Phong therefore remains interesting for landlords, but price discipline now decides whether a deal works.

Hai Phong apartment market	Early 2023	Recent level	Change
Typical apartment price	~VND 33m/m²	~VND 40m/m²	~+21%
Typical monthly rent	~VND 10m	~VND 11m	~+10%
Gross rental yield	~6.4%	~4.8%	-1.6 pp
Investor takeaway	Very attractive income	More selective market	Price matters much more

Are the latest Hai Phong numbers even comparable after the merger with Hai Duong?

Not always. Recent “Hai Phong” economic figures cover a much larger city than the apartment market most investors still mean when they talk about buying in Hai Phong.

Former Hai Duong province and Hai Phong were merged in 2025. The new municipality covers roughly 3,195 square kilometers and has more than 4.6 million people. That makes current citywide figures dramatically larger than the old port city alone.

Hai Phong reported roughly $3.14 billion of FDI in the first half of 2026 and around $54 billion of active registered FDI in total. Those are genuine numbers, but they now include factories and investment across the enlarged municipality.

The same caution applies to population, housing construction and economic growth. Current GRDP grew 11.33% in the first half of 2026, the fastest first-half growth Hai Phong had recorded in five years. Industrial production rose almost 15%. Those figures show that the wider economy is extremely strong; they do not tell us that an apartment in Vĩnh Niệm or Ngô Quyền suddenly has millions of additional potential tenants.

For the rest of the rental analysis, we care much more about the old urban core, Hải An, Tràng Duệ, Đình Vũ–Cát Hải and the employment corridors that genuinely feed the apartment market.

Is there actually enough rental demand in Hai Phong today?

Yes. Hai Phong still has one of the strongest employment-backed rental markets among Vietnam’s secondary cities.

Industrial parks and economic zones remain the main reason. Before the administrative expansion distorted some citywide comparisons, Hai Phong’s industrial zones were already employing well over 300,000 people. They included thousands of foreign specialists alongside a much larger Vietnamese workforce.

Companies such as LG Electronics, LG Display and LG Innotek created a particularly deep Korean and international professional community around the city. Manufacturing around Tràng Duệ adds another layer of demand, while Hải An, Đình Vũ and Cát Hải benefit from logistics, port and industrial employment.

The economy is still adding fuel today. During the first half of 2026, 92.4% of Hai Phong’s newly attracted FDI went into industrial parks and economic zones. Manufacturing output was also growing at a double-digit rate.

That gives landlords something useful: people move to Hai Phong because employers need them there. Rental demand is tied to factories, ports, logistics companies and professional jobs rather than depending mainly on holiday traffic or investor speculation.

Is a 4.8% Hai Phong rental yield still good?

Yes. A gross yield around 4.8% is still competitive in Vietnam, although we would aim higher before actually buying.

Recent Batdongsan.com.vn comparisons put Hai Phong around 4.8% gross. Da Nang was closer to 4.3%, the former Ho Chi Minh City market around 3.2%, Quang Ninh around 3.1% and Hanoi around 2.3%.

That means a Hai Phong landlord can currently receive roughly twice the gross yield available on a typical Hanoi apartment.

The problem appears when we compare 4.8% with Hai Phong itself. The city used to offer something closer to 6% or more without requiring an unusually good purchase. Today, 4.8% is closer to the market average.

We would treat 5% as roughly the minimum level at which a normal Hai Phong investment becomes interesting. Around 5.5–6%, the numbers become much more convincing. Below roughly 4.5%, the investor is relying heavily on future appreciation.

Market	Approx. gross apartment yield	Difference versus Hai Phong
Hai Phong	~4.8%	—
Da Nang	~4.3%	-0.5 pp
Former Ho Chi Minh City	~3.2%	-1.6 pp
Quang Ninh	~3.1%	-1.7 pp
Hanoi	~2.3%	-2.5 pp

Are Hai Phong rents rising fast enough to justify current apartment prices?

No. Hai Phong rents are still increasing, but they have recently been losing the race against sale prices.

Typical apartment rent stayed around VND 10 million per month through much of 2023–2025 before moving closer to VND 11 million. Apartment prices, meanwhile, moved from the low-VND 30 million-per-square-meter range toward roughly VND 40 million and above in many new projects.

A 20% increase in the purchase price with only a 10% increase in rent automatically pushes the yield down unless the landlord can find an unusually good unit.

We can see the same thing in individual developments. Diamond Crown currently has a common asking price around VND 55 million per square meter according to OneHousing, with listings spanning roughly VND 46–60 million. That is far above old Hai Phong apartment pricing.

The economic story can remain excellent while the rental investment becomes less attractive. These days, investors need rent growth to catch up or must negotiate a better entry price.

Are foreign professionals really important to Hai Phong landlords?

Yes, especially in premium apartments, but the expat market is too small to support every expensive project being built.

Hai Phong has developed a real foreign professional population through LG, Japanese manufacturers, Korean suppliers, shipping companies and industrial groups. These tenants can pay materially more than the average local household and often want furnished apartments, professional management and short commutes.

Projects such as The Minato Residence were built around precisely that demand. Current asking rents commonly run around VND 11–13 million for smaller units and roughly VND 14–20 million for many two-bedroom apartments.

Yet foreign professionals still represent only a fraction of Hai Phong’s total industrial workforce. Thousands of well-paid expatriates can support several strong buildings. They cannot fill every premium tower that developers may eventually deliver.

We would therefore favor buildings where a Vietnamese professional couple could realistically rent the same unit if the expat tenant leaves. That second tenant pool becomes very valuable during weaker leasing periods.

Which Hai Phong neighborhoods are strongest for rental property?

Vĩnh Niệm and the established parts of Lê Chân currently offer one of the best combinations of tenant demand, amenities and reasonable rental economics.

The appeal is practical. Vĩnh Niệm sits near Aeon Mall, hospitals, schools and established residential districts while retaining usable connections toward Tràng Duệ and other industrial employment areas. That makes it suitable for local professionals, couples and foreigners.

Ngô Quyền also works well, particularly around Lê Hồng Phong and established central neighborhoods. It offers easier access to the traditional city center and Cát Bi airport, although purchase prices can reduce the yield.

Hải An deserves more caution. The district has excellent economic logic because of the airport, port, logistics sector and Đình Vũ–Cát Hải corridor. Yet investors sometimes pay too much for that story. A location can be close to employment and still produce a mediocre rental return if the purchase price already reflects years of expected growth.

The simplest test is tenant convenience. We care about how long someone actually needs to reach work, supermarkets, schools and restaurants, not how impressive the district looks on a development map.

Area	Likely tenant base	Rental strength	Main risk
Vĩnh Niệm / Lê Chân	Professionals, couples, expats	Strong	More new supply
Ngô Quyền	Professionals, families, expats	Strong	Higher entry prices
Hải An	Logistics, airport and industrial workers	Good but uneven	Prices can run ahead of rents
Hồng Bàng	Central professionals and households	Moderate	Yield compression
Tràng Duệ corridor	Industrial employees	Strong niche demand	Highly employment-dependent

Are studios and one-bedroom apartments the safest Hai Phong rental investment?

Usually yes. Small apartments currently fit Hai Phong’s tenant market better and generally protect the yield more effectively.

A large share of the professional rental pool consists of individuals and couples rather than families needing 100 square meters. Smaller apartments therefore start with a broader tenant base.

Purchase economics also help. The rent on a two-bedroom apartment rarely rises in proportion to the extra purchase price. A VND 2 billion one-bedroom renting for VND 10 million produces 6% gross. If a larger unit costs VND 3.5 billion but rents for VND 14 million, the gross yield falls below 4.8%.

Small units are also easier to furnish, cheaper to maintain and accessible to more resale buyers.

There are exceptions. A well-located two-bedroom apartment with a reliable corporate lease can be excellent. But if two units have similar building quality and location, we would usually take the smaller one when its yield is clearly higher.

Can we still find actual Hai Phong apartments yielding 5% or 6%?

Yes. Deals around 5–6% gross still exist, although they now sit above the city average and need to be checked carefully.

Recent Minato listings give us a useful example. A 46-square-meter apartment offered around VND 2.8 billion with rent of roughly VND 12.5 million per month implies a gross yield around 5.4%. Another listing near VND 2.65 billion advertised an existing VND 15 million lease, which would produce close to 6.8% if the lease is genuine and repeatable.

Diamond Crown looks tighter. A unit priced around VND 2.05 billion with a VND 8 million monthly tenant produces approximately 4.7% gross.

That spread shows why project-level averages are no longer enough. Two apartments in good Hai Phong buildings can differ by two percentage points of yield simply because one owner bought or negotiated better.

Whenever a listing advertises an unusually high return, we would verify the lease, remaining lease term, deposit, tenant identity where possible and whether the rent includes management fees. A claimed VND 15 million rent is much less useful if it came from a short promotional tenancy that cannot be renewed.

Example	Purchase price	Monthly rent	Gross yield
Diamond Crown example	VND 2.05bn	VND 8m	~4.7%
Minato example	VND 2.80bn	VND 12.5m	~5.4%
Minato higher-rent example	VND 2.65bn	VND 15m	~6.8%
Our preferred range	Depends on unit	Depends on unit	5–6%+

Could Hai Phong build too many apartments for landlords?

Yes. New housing supply is now one of the clearest reasons to avoid overpaying for a Hai Phong rental apartment.

Commercial development is expanding, and the city is simultaneously pushing social housing very aggressively.

The social-housing pipeline alone is enormous. Hai Phong plans to complete roughly 63,500 social-housing units by 2030, above the central government target. Between 2026 and 2030, around 24 projects representing approximately 27,700 units are planned.

This is already turning into physical supply. The Construction Department recently cleared another 298 future apartments at Tân Trường for sale, 310 at a project in Thủy Nguyên and 249 in the Kiến An area. At Tràng Cát, 2,216 future social-housing apartments were approved for sale in one batch alone. Applications and sales procedures were still continuing through August.

Commercial supply is expanding alongside it. Vũ Yên is becoming a huge new urban area, while projects including Hoàng Huy developments, Golden City and other new schemes are adding modern housing elsewhere.

A landlord serving ordinary workers could eventually feel serious competition from subsidized housing. Premium landlords face a different problem: several new private projects may compete for the same professional and foreign tenants.

Should we buy Vũ Yên now for rental income?

No, not if rental income is the main objective today. Vũ Yên still requires too much faith in a tenant market that is only beginning to form.

The scale is extraordinary. Vinhomes Royal Island covers roughly 877 hectares, while high-rise development planned around the wider island could ultimately introduce many thousands of apartments.

That could create an important new residential center over time. Better bridges, retail, schools, entertainment and new residents can eventually support an independent rental market.

But the early investor faces a simple problem: many other owners may receive similar new apartments at roughly the same time.

Established parts of Lê Chân or Ngô Quyền already have restaurants, schools, offices, hospitals, tenants and comparable rents we can verify today. Vũ Yên buyers are paying partly for what the district could become.

For appreciation, that may be acceptable. For someone whose question is specifically whether Hai Phong buy-to-let works now, we prefer rental demand that already exists.

Will Hai Phong’s factories, ports and infrastructure keep rental demand growing?

Probably yes. The latest economic data still give us plenty of reason to expect Hai Phong’s professional tenant base to expand.

The wider Hai Phong economy grew 11.33% in the first half of 2026, its strongest first-half result in five years. Industrial and construction output grew 13.46%, while manufacturing expanded 15.25%.

FDI reached roughly $3.14 billion over the same period, up about 77% from a year earlier. More than 90% went into industrial parks and economic zones.

The port economy is still expanding too. Cargo throughput reached about 213 million tonnes in 2025, up roughly 12%. Lạch Huyện already has six berths in operation, and further development is meant to push container capacity much higher over time.

Cát Bi airport is also expanding through Terminal 2 and apron work.

Factories, logistics, ports and transport projects should continue bringing engineers, managers, suppliers and service workers into the region. We are fairly confident about that part of the story. What we cannot assume is that rents will rise at the same speed as apartment prices.

Does buying a Hai Phong rental apartment with a mortgage still make sense?

Usually no. Current borrowing costs make heavily leveraged Hai Phong buy-to-let difficult to justify from rental income alone.

The arithmetic is harsh. A typical apartment produces around 4.8% gross before vacancy, maintenance, furniture replacement, agent commissions and building charges.

Even competitive mortgage promotions can start around the mid-6% range for limited fixed periods, while other banks quote substantially higher initial or reference rates. Once the promotional period ends, the financing gap can become even wider.

Suppose we buy a property yielding 5% gross while paying 7% on the borrowed money. We already start two percentage points behind before paying a single repair bill.

At a 9% borrowing cost, the gap reaches four percentage points.

Leverage can still produce a good total return if the property appreciates strongly. That becomes a price-growth bet, however, rather than a self-funding rental investment.

For Hai Phong today, cash buyers and lightly leveraged buyers have a much cleaner setup.

Scenario	Approx. rate	Spread versus 4.8% gross yield
Typical Hai Phong gross yield	4.8%	—
Mortgage at 6.5%	6.5%	-1.7 pp
Mortgage at 7.0%	7.0%	-2.2 pp
Mortgage at 9.0%	9.0%	-4.2 pp
Mortgage at 10.0%	10.0%	-5.2 pp

Are expensive Hai Phong apartments still worth buying for rent?

Often no. Once a normal Hai Phong apartment moves much above VND 60 million per square meter, we need unusually strong rent to justify the investment.

The newest evidence from the market supports that threshold. Hai Phong Real Estate Association figures from the first half of 2026 showed activity concentrated around VND 35–55 million per square meter, while higher-priced projects had more unsold inventory.

Diamond Crown currently sits around VND 55 million per square meter as a common asking level, with some listings above VND 60 million. A VND 3.7 billion apartment rented for VND 13 million a month gives us only about 4.2% gross. Even VND 15 million rent takes the yield to just under 4.9%.

That is thin for a secondary-city rental asset.

A luxury building can still make sense when the apartment has an exceptional view, a corporate tenant or unusually strong resale appeal. But expensive finishes alone do not create a good landlord return.

We would be far more interested in paying VND 2–3 billion for a liquid apartment yielding 5.5% than VND 4–5 billion for a prestigious apartment yielding 4%.

Will Hai Phong’s social housing reduce private rental demand?

Yes at the cheaper end of the market, and the risk is becoming more concrete these days.

Hai Phong is building social housing on a scale large enough to change worker accommodation. The city plans around 63,500 completed units by 2030, and projects are now reaching the market in meaningful batches.

Tràng Cát is especially relevant because it sits inside the Đình Vũ–Cát Hải economic zone, directly linking subsidized housing with industrial employment. More than 2,200 future apartments there were cleared for sale in one recent batch.

Tràng Duệ already has thousands of worker-housing units, while additional projects are moving ahead around Tân Trường, Thủy Nguyên and Kiến An.

For a private landlord renting a basic apartment to workers, that creates a genuine competitor with a lower cost base.

The effect should be much smaller on a furnished central apartment aimed at a foreign engineer earning several times the local salary. This is another reason we prefer Hai Phong properties with a clear professional tenant profile rather than generic low-cost units.

Can a foreign buyer legally rent out a Hai Phong apartment?

Yes. Eligible foreigners can buy and rent qualifying Hai Phong apartments, although the project has to pass several legal checks first.

Vietnamese housing law generally allows foreign individuals permitted to enter Vietnam to purchase apartments in qualifying commercial housing projects outside restricted defense and security areas.

Foreign ownership in an apartment building is generally capped at 30% of the units. The standard foreign ownership term can run for up to 50 years and may be extended once under the applicable rules.

Foreign owners are allowed to lease their apartments, subject to the relevant registration, notification and tax requirements.

For an overseas investor, we would check the foreign quota before spending much time modeling the return. We would also verify whether the specific project is eligible, what ownership period will appear on the certificate and whether a future sale to another foreign buyer could be restricted by the quota.

These legal details can affect liquidity more than a difference of 0.2 percentage points in rental yield.

What return should a Hai Phong landlord realistically expect now?

A well-bought Hai Phong apartment should currently produce around 5–6% gross, with roughly 4% net being a sensible target.

The citywide headline figure of approximately 4.8% gives us the starting point. Better studios and one-bedroom units can move into the mid-5% range, and occasionally above 6% when the purchase price is particularly good.

Costs quickly reduce those figures. One vacant month removes 8.3% of annual rental revenue. Add an agent fee, repairs, replacement furniture, air-conditioning maintenance and building charges, and a 5.5% gross yield can end up around 4% net.

We would become cautious below roughly 4.5% gross unless the apartment has an exceptional reason to appreciate. At that level, ordinary running costs can push the real income return toward 3%.

Around 5.5%, we become much more interested. Above 6%, we would investigate quickly but verify the rent carefully because unusually high advertised yields sometimes rely on temporary leases or optimistic asking rents.

So, is buying property to rent out in Hai Phong still worth it?

Yes, selectively. Hai Phong remains one of Vietnam’s better cities for buy-to-let, but we would now reject a large share of the apartments being marketed to investors.

The positive case is still strong. Hai Phong has a huge manufacturing base, expanding industrial parks, major foreign employers, growing ports and one of the strongest recent economic growth rates in Vietnam. Rental yields also remain considerably above Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The deterioration is happening on the purchase-price side. Apartment values have moved much faster than rents, citywide gross yields have fallen from above 6% earlier in the cycle to roughly 4.8%, expensive new projects are carrying more inventory and tens of thousands of additional private and social-housing units are coming through the pipeline.

As we saw above, the best current deals can still reach 5–6% gross. That is the part of Hai Phong we would buy.

Our preferred property today would be a studio or one-bedroom apartment in an established area such as Vĩnh Niệm, Lê Chân or a similarly proven employment-linked neighborhood; already completed; easy to furnish; easy to resell; capable of attracting both Vietnamese professionals and foreign tenants; and purchased at a price that produces at least around 5% gross using a rent we can verify.

We would pass on heavily leveraged purchases, speculative Vũ Yên units bought mainly for future rental demand, luxury apartments producing less than roughly 4.5%, and properties whose entire return depends on finding a high-paying expatriate.

Hai Phong buy-to-let is still worth it today. The city remains unusually good at producing tenants. The harder part now is finding an apartment cheap enough to turn those tenants into a genuinely good return.

Who is the author of this content?

BAMBOOROUTES

A team specialized in real estate investing in APAC countries (Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, etc.).

We are a team of financial experts, legal professionals, developers, and local real estate specialists dedicated to helping people like you avoid mistakes when investing in real estate in a foreign place, particularly in Hai Phong. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can check our presentation page.