Does feng shui affect a home's sale price or rent?

Feng shui is a traditional belief, not a price measure recognised by law or the statistics authorities. The figures below are brokers' estimates published in the press. Sources at the end of the article · Updated 23/10/2026.

"Will a home facing this direction sell at a good price?" is a familiar question for buyers and sellers alike. We looked for press articles carrying brokers' views and found: there is no independent, published survey with a method that measures price gaps due to feng shui in Vietnam; there are only personal opinions. So this article separates clearly what is sourced data and what is practical judgement.

1. Figures with a source

• 5–10%: VnExpress (28/02/2009) recorded Mr Pham Van Hai, then head of ACBR, saying feng shui affects 5–10% of a property's value in some cases. Specifically, the article said a project facing a park sold for about 5–10% more than a unit in an ordinary location, and a project with a river view, beside a large lake or open on all sides sold for about 10% more than a project with a blocked view.
• 7 in 10 people buying a home care about feng shui and about 8 in 10 care about the owner's age and the house orientation: this is an estimate by a representative of an architecture consultancy in the same article, not a published survey.
• Investor buyers (reselling) make up only about 3–4% by this executive's estimate; most of those who care about feng shui are buying to live in.
• Floor 13: the Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper (04/05/2017) quoted Mr Nguyen Van Duc (Dat Lanh): a floor-13 unit is usually priced slightly lower and sells more slowly because of the reluctance about this number; the article gives no figure.

Note: the first two articles are old (2009, 2017) and the market today is very different. Many factors called "good feng shui", such as park, river or lake views and being open on all sides, are real usable value: airy, bright, cool, comfortable.

2. Which feng shui factors coincide with real-value factors?

Feng shui belief	Practical value that comes with it	Effect on price and liquidity
An airy home with lots of light	Saves electricity, comfortable to live in	Usually rated highly
A park, river or lake view	View, air	Per VnExpress 2009: 5–10% to about 10% higher
Avoid dead ends	VietNamNet (2016): hard to escape in a fire, architectural limits	Harder to sell because of function
Avoid expressways and high-voltage towers	Noise, dust, health worries	May reduce demand
Floors 4, 13, 14	Almost no difference in function	Depends on buyer sentiment; brokers' views say it may be slower
Door orientation, house orientation by element	Ngoi Sao advises avoiding balconies and windows facing West with harsh sun	An orientation with less harsh sun is usually considered
Lộ xung (a T-junction pointing straight at the house)	Noise, traffic safety	No published figures; some avoid it by belief

For items with no figures, this article does not give a "discount" percentage.

3. Apartments: floor, orientation, corner unit

Ngoi Sao (14/06/2026) judged that floors 4–9 are usually rated highly because they are convenient, have steady water and less noise; for long-term living, prefer floors 5–15. The article recommends avoiding balconies and windows facing West with harsh sun, bedrooms without a window, units near the rubbish area and lifts, and a main door facing another unit's door directly; a corner unit open on several sides is rated well. This is both feng shui and functional advice — see condominium apartment feng shui and choosing an apartment floor for your element.

4. Rent

Tenants usually put price, location, travel, security and amenities before feng shui. We have not found data showing that feng shui changes rent.

5. Advice for buyers

1. Ask about three factors first: legal status, location, cash flow; only then feng shui.
2. If your family avoids a number or direction, find another unit in the same area rather than dropping the whole project; a unit that is avoided is usually easier to negotiate on price.
3. Do not pay a high price just because a "master" says this unit "suits your age". Read house orientation by age as one opinion, not a conclusion.
4. Ask yourself: when you resell, will the next buyer mind?

6. Advice for sellers

1. Describe the real advantages accurately: light, view, ventilation; avoid promising "prosperous qi" or "wealth".
2. If the unit has a disliked feature: set a reasonable price, be honest about that factor and add other advantages rather than avoiding it.
3. You can remedy weak points with layout, lighting and furnishings — see feng shui remedies that cost little.
4. Do not hide important information such as structure, legal status or disputes.

Note: This article is a reference on market psychology; it does not claim that feng shui raises or lowers prices and does not replace a professional valuation.

• VnExpress — Buying and selling property "relying on" feng shui masters (Vu Le; estimate of 5–10%, 7 in 10 buyers care), 28 February 2009.
• Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper — Tears and laughter over buying a floor-13 apartment, 4 May 2017.
• Ngoi Sao — When buying a condominium, which units to avoid and which floor is best by feng shui?, 14 June 2026.
• VietNamNet — Tips to avoid buying homes that are bad by feng shui (compiled from Tri Thuc Tre), 1 July 2016.