Do Thi Hoa, 62, from Hanoi spent VND2.4 billion (USD96,000) on buying a 60-square metre apartment on a mountain in Sapa.
A corner of Sapa Town (Photo by Xuan Hau)
According to Hoa, summer in Hanoi is very hot, so she decided to buy an apartment to enjoy the holidays there. Sapa Airport construction is underway, facilitating travel to the town. She will also lease her apartment to tourists.
Minh Phuong, 38, from Hanoi, said she bought some apartments in Lao Cai City and Sapa Town two years ago. Apartment prices in the locality have considerably risen to around VND32 million per square metre. Many Chinese traders and experts in Lao Cai often choose to rent apartments to live in.
Meanwhile, apartments in Sapa have higher prices at VND36-41 million per square metre, Minh Phuong added, noting that most investors are from Hanoi.
Manh Huy, a real estate broker in Sapa, stated that after the 2024 Lunar New Year, interest rates decreased significantly and housing prices in Hanoi became too high, prompting many investors to move to Sapa.
Not only apartments but also land in Sapa have seen the price rise. A square metre of land in Sapa is VND270 million. In some areas, this has increased to VND300 million per square metre.
Some hotels are offered for sale at VND250-300 million per square metre, Huy said.
Sapa’s infrastructure system has been developed with the construction of more roads and particularly Sapa Airport. This is among the reasons for the local estate boom.
Last year, Lao Cai welcomed 7.2 million travellers with Sapa accounting for 3.5 million.
In March this year, Lao Cai served nearly one million tourists, up 78 percent against December last year.