Used social housing prices increase
10 years ago, Ms. Nguyen Mai Phuong (from Ninh Binh) bought a social housing unit of nearly 60 square meters in Ngo Thi Nham Ward, Ha Dong District, Hanoi. Now that she has the means to buy a better place to live, she wants to sell it to buy a larger apartment. When researching apartments here, Ms. Phuong was surprised because the price had increased 3-4 times compared to when she bought it. Up to now, the selling price at this project ranges from 35 - 37 million VND/m2, 4 times higher than before.
According to a survey, the Ecohome social housing project (Bac Tu Liem, Hanoi) was handed over in 2020, with a selling price from the investor of about 16.5 million VND/m2. However, currently, many social housing units in this project are being resold at prices ranging from 40 - 43 million VND/m2, nearly 3 times higher than before.
For example, a social housing unit in building N03 with an area of nearly 60 square meters and designed with 2 bedrooms is being offered for sale at a price of 2.55 billion VND, equivalent to 43 million VND/square meter. The seller said that the owner needs money so he needs to sell quickly to get this price, the house currently has a certificate. If the buyer is willing to buy, the owner will leave all the furniture.
The social housing project in Dai Kim (Hoang Mai, Hanoi) was opened for sale in 2016 at a price of 14 million VND/m2. The project was handed over and put into use in 2017, the current secondary selling price is from 32 - 35 million VND/m2.
It can be seen that, in the context of scarce supply, the price of secondary social housing has even been pushed up to the same level as that of commercial apartments. However, the upward trend in housing prices in Hanoi is forecast to continue to increase.
According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung (residing in Linh Duong, Linh Dam), the price of 3.7 billion VND for a 75m2 social housing unit that has been in use for nearly ten years is unimaginable compared to the average income per capita in Hanoi of 7.5 million VND/month.
According to Mr. Dung, let's do a simple calculation: the average income of a working family is about 20 million VND/month, spending 10 million VND, saving 10 million VND/month, each year to get 120 million VND. To have 3.7 billion VND to buy a house, it will take about 33 years of saving, with the condition that there is no illness and not too many unexpected expenses.
Social housing prices are also inflated.
According to Mr. Tran Dinh Quan - Sales Director of the Evergreen Bac Giang social housing project, the high price increase of social housing is due to the increase in commercial housing prices, many people have "inflated" the price of social housing to increase accordingly. "Meanwhile, when implementing social housing, investors have calculated that the input construction price is only about 13 - 14 million VND/m2 for level 1 and level 2 projects" - Mr. Quan said.
More than a year ago, the NHS Trung Van social housing project was opened for sale with thousands of applications, but only 157 units were purchased. Immediately after that, there was a lot of information about selling social housing units with a price difference of up to 600 million VND.
Regarding this issue, speaking with PV Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen The Diep - Vice President of Hanoi Real Estate Club - said that due to supply not meeting demand, it leads to illegal buying and selling.
According to Mr. Diep, when the revised Land Law, Housing Law and Real Estate Business Law were implemented, difficulties were removed, such as 20% of housing being used for commercial purposes, expanding income levels, household registration, etc.
"It is necessary to classify and the first priority group must be wage earners, officers and soldiers in the armed forces who have difficulty with housing, followed by the urban poor. These are the groups that need to buy social housing the most," said Mr. Diep.
