However, this lull provides a good opportunity for people with real housing needs rather than speculators to buy properties, according to experts.

Nguyen Son Trung, director of HCM City-based Dat Nam Do Real Estate Company, says real estate transactions are only taking place in capital-mobilising projects because speculators only have to deposit 10 to 20 percent on an apartment that will take a long time to be completed.

Apartments that would be completed in Quarters II, III and IV this year are selling at base prices, but still unable to find customers, he says.

“People who are in need of houses should find themselves one in the next few months. It will be hard for people with little money to do so when the market recovers,” Trung says.

According to surveys conducted by the Vietnam real Estate Company (VietRees) – a local real estate information and research agency in Vietnam, the market segment of high-class apartments has seen prices lowered. Since October 2009, 37 projects have cut prices by 1-5 percent from the initial asking price. This marks a 30 percent reduction in prices of land and apartments from those demanded early last year.

The price reduction has also happened in the western area of Hanoi – a real estate hotspot. Duong Noi Apartment Complex in Ha Dong district is selling at base prices, after it went up by VND100 million earlier last year. The Mulberry Lane Ha Dong project has cut prices by US$40-50 per square metre, MegaLand by US$30-40, Bac An Khanh by US$30-40 and Usilk-City by US$50-70.

Real estate marketing agencies in the west of Hanoi say transactions in the area have fallen by 90 percent in comparison with the period between August and October 2009.

“If the situation does not improve, there will be a series of low-priced land and apartment properties launched into the market over the next two or three months, because speculators have to bargain away their investments to pay maturing loans,” says Nguyen Thi Giang, a real estate speculator in Hanoi.

Despite the weak demand, real estate developers are preparing for an early market recovery.

Besides hundreds of under-construction urban projects in the eastern area of the capital city, many urban projects and residential areas are being implemented in the northern and eastern districts, including Me Linh, Dong Anh, Long Bien and Gia Lam.

There are as many as 80 new projects under development in Me Linh District, half of them to build residential complexes, garden homes and villa. In the east of Hanoi, several major projects like the Eco Park, Villa Park, Viet Hung, Dang Xa, Sai Dong and Thach Ban are under construction.

Ho Van Hai, deputy general manager of the Dai Duong Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Oceanbak), says, ”Only when the State Bank loosens its monetary policy, will the real estate market become exciting again.”

The current state of stagnation will not be long because the global economy is recovering, says Trung from Dat Nam Do company in HCM City.