Land price increase coefficient
The Department of Agriculture and Environment (DONRE) of Ho Chi Minh City is soliciting opinions on the draft new land price list, expected to be applied from the beginning of 2026.
According to the draft, the central area of Ho Chi Minh City before the merger recorded a maximum land price coefficient of 1.56 times; the old Binh Duong increased to the highest level 8 times and the old Ba Ria - Vung Tau was 3.78 times.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ho Chi Minh City, 12 groups may be affected. In particular, households needing to change land use purposes in the Binh Duong area before the merger, where prices can increase up to 8 times higher than the current price, are strongly affected. However, according to the viewpoint of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ho Chi Minh City, the general impact is not large because the price list is still close to the common level in the market.
In the old Ho Chi Minh City area, the price list is not expected to change many administrative costs. Land in Nha Be, Cu Chi, Hoc Mon and Binh Chanh areas (formerly) is almost the same, while agricultural land is proposed to increase by 50-70%, helping people harmonize costs.
Similarly, land prices in communes and wards in the Ba Ria - Vung Tau area were previously not affected much because the highest increase was only about 3.78 times.
The group is arranged for resettlement and cases of land allocation without auction are also affected when market prices are used in the new price list to calculate land use fees. Because the adjustment of land prices is expected to change the difference in the amount of money that people have to pay.
Land lease groups with annual payments, land management and use fees, as well as poor households, policy families... are less affected because policies on exemption and reduction of land use fees are still maintained.
On the contrary, real estate enterprises are assessed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment as not affected, because the land use fee calculation price for commercial projects is still determined according to the surplus method, independent of the land price list.
Production, trade and service enterprises are not subject to high cost pressure because the taxes (annual land collection, non-agricultural land use) remain stable until the end of the following year. They are then only indirectly affected by these costs.
Financial burden of land use fees
However, according to many experts, people and businesses will still be affected by land prices according to the provisions of the draft resolution on removing difficulties and obstacles in implementing the 2024 Land Law that is being considered by the National Assembly.
According to the draft resolution, land prices are determined = (pricet table x land price adjustment coefficient (coefficient K) and apply to all cases).
Because the land price list is expected to be only about 60% of the transferred price, the average land price adjustment coefficient will increase by 1.5 - 2 times compared to the non-agricultural land price list ( many locations will increase by more than 2 times).
If the land price is applied according to the content of the draft resolution, all cases from resettlement arrangement, cases of converting land use purposes from agricultural land to residential land of households and individuals, cases of land lease with annual land rent payment... must pay land use fees increased by 1.5 - 2 times according to the adjustment coefficient.
For example, according to current regulations, the land price list is 10 million VND/m2, if the price list x coefficient is applied, it will increase to 15 - 20 million VND/m2.
Dr. Pham Viet Thuan, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Natural Resources and Environment Economics (IEEr) has also just sent a proposal to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to propose building a 2026 land price list without using market prices as a basis for calculation.
The view from the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Natural Resources and Environment Economics believes that the land price list according to Decision 79/2024 is currently applied too high, creating great pressure for people, businesses and management agencies. Therefore, the city needs to return to the policy in accordance with the spirit of the Politburo: using the old price list (according to Decision 02/2020) as a foundation, then multiplying the land price adjustment coefficient to build a new land price list applicable from January 1, 2026; not continuing to use market prices as a basis for building the first land price list. The range of adjustment of coefficient K proposed by the Institute is from 0.2 to 3 times, depending on the area, both flexible and stable in the market.
According to Dr. Pham Viet Thuan, the current method is to take market prices and then multiply them by the coefficient K, causing land prices to far exceed people's affordability. The national average income is only about 8.2 million VND per month, while the price of land and social housing is very high. A two-bedroom apartment costs 1.2 billion VND, causing workers to save for decades to buy.
For agricultural land, Dr. Pham Viet Thuan recommends that the price should be equal to 30% of the land price for the same plot, helping to reduce the cost of converting land use purposes. Some localities such as Nghe An are applying a rate of 20% and have brought about efficiency.
