Many workers were amazed by the price level of used social housing. Ms. Bich Tuyet (residing in District 12) said that she wanted to buy an apartment with a selling price of less than 2 billion VND, so she researched used social housing projects and hoped to buy an apartment at a affordable price.
Recently, a broker consulted her on a 60 m2 apartment at the Topaz Home project located on Phan Van Hon Street (District 12) for 2.1 billion VND. It is known that when it was first launched in 2016, the price of apartments here was only about 14-16 million VND/m2. Currently, apartments in this project are being offered for 33-35 million VND/m2 (excluding taxes and fees).
The market survey also found that most social housing projects in Ho Chi Minh City, despite many years of use, are still constantly increasing in price. For example, the HQC Binh Trung Dong social housing project in Thu Duc City was opened for sale in 2017 at a price of 18-22 million VND/m2. After the handover in 2022, the secondary transfer price increased to nearly 30 million VND/m2. Up to now, apartments here are being traded at prices ranging from 33-36 million VND/m2. Or the Vinh Loc D'Gold apartment project in Binh Chanh in 2017 was priced at 16 million VND/m2, now for sale at 24-26 million VND/m2...
The trend of increasing secondary prices of social housing in Ho Chi Minh City is assessed by experts as inevitable in the context of the city lacking supply. In addition, apartment prices in Ho Chi Minh City in general are also on a skyrocketing increase, an average of 15-20% per year. Each m2 of affordable apartments in 2015 cost 25-35 million VND, by 2023 it will increase to 40-60 million VND; mid-range apartments from 35-50 million VND, by 2023 it will also increase to 50-70 million VND/m2; high-end apartments from 50 million VND to 70-100 million VND/m2...
It is known that according to the social housing development criteria assigned by the Government, by 2030, Ho Chi Minh City must complete 100,000 social houses. The report of the Department of Construction of Ho Chi Minh City shows that until now, the city has just been completed and put into use 5 social housing projects with more than 2,300 apartments, the same part of the project of working houses with 368 units. To meet the registered targets, in the period 2026-2030, the city aims to complete each year from more than 9,400 to more than 28,000 social houses.
Dr. Su Ngoc Khuong - Senior Director of Savills Vietnam Investment Consulting - said that some markets in the world have focused on developing social housing and have policies for this issue to ensure housing supply for the market.
In Vietnam, in recent times, the Government has shown strong determination to promote the development of social housing through the Social Housing Project and the National Housing Fund. However, the demand for housing is too high and the land fund is limited, so this is a very difficult problem.
The expert also pointed out the gap between supply and demand, along with unsynchronized planning, making it difficult for social housing to reach people with real needs. According to the standards of the Ministry of Construction, the average housing area should be 25-30 m2/person in type I urban areas, but the current reality is still not met.
To develop sustainable social housing, Mr. Khuong encouraged the need to clearly identify land funds and assign them to developers in the form of KPI ( index of work performance assessment), between the government and enterprises. At the same time, support businesses with legal procedures, credit and profit margin.
"If these factors can be removed, especially supporting loans and interest rates for businesses as well as people in the group of households eligible to buy houses and having specific mechanisms for them to overcome them, then we can ensure supply" - Mr. Khuong said.
