HCM City witnessing rented room thirst in exam season

VietNamNet Bridge – Students have begun flocking into HCM City to seek boarding houses to stay during the exam season. However, rooms for lease are running out.

Rooms for lease are running out

Lai, the owner of a boarding house on Nguyen Van Cu road in district 5 near the HCM City University of Natural Sciences, said that he has no rooms left to lease. He said that previously he collected 400,000 dong from a client a month in rent, including water and electricity. However, the leasing fee has been raised to 500,000 dong per client since the beginning of June.

Other boarding house owners on Nguyen Van Cu and Tran Binh Trong streets also say that they have raised rent because it is now the ‘high business season’.

Le Thi Hue, the owner of a boarding house on Ly Thuong Kiet street in Tan Binh district, said that she prefers leasing rooms by day rather than by month because she can earn more money. If she leases by month, she can earn 600,000 dong/room/month, while if she leases by day, she can collect 30,000 dong per person per day and can put many people in the same room.

Le Thanh Tai, a student from Lam Dong province, who has been staying in HCM City for a couple of weeks to prepare for the university entrance exams, related that at first, he tried to find a room to rent in Thu Duc district because it is near the university he wants to study at. However, Tai could not find a room to lease there and finally had to stay in a house in Go Vap district, which is very far from the centre.

Tai is now sharing a narrow 12 square metre room with three other people and each of them has to pay 20,000 ($1.1) dong per day. Tai said he cannot find anywhere that offers a lower leasing fee.

Phi Nhat Nam from Binh Thuan and his four friends, who are preparing to sit for the exams to get into Le Hong Phong Gifted School, said they had to lease a room near the school at 3 million dong, or nearly $200, a month. Tai said that as they do not have motorbikes, they have to pay a lot to rent a room near the school.

It seems to be impossible to find ‘soft price’ rooms at this moment to rent. Pham Thi Lan Huong from Binh Phuoc province, who is taking the exam to enter the HCM City University of Law, said that she has asked for support from the team ‘Giving strength in the exam season’. However, she dares not dream of finding a low-fee room to rent.

Thu Duc district is the area where students who register to take exams for the HCM City Agriculture and Forestry University, HCM City Technical Education University and HCM City Economics University like staying. In previous years, students could register to stay at the dormitory of the HCM City National University. However, the dormitory is not open to students until early July.