Large demand, limited supply
Ms. Thu Ha - a lecturer working in Ho Chi Minh City - said that she read the newspaper and saw information about opening for sale a social housing project at 324 Ly Thuong Kiet street, so she wanted to stop by to "try her luck".
Ms. Ha also said that she registered but did not know the results because no one answered. Only later, through information from newspapers and radio, did she know that the project had not been opened for sale, the registration was to survey demand, but the number of registrations was too large, so everything felt distant. It is known that the project has about 755 apartments open for sale, but there are more than 12,000 applications with demand.
She also tried to find out the selling prices of some social housing projects that have been put into use in the area near the center of Ho Chi Minh City, but the selling price is quite high compared to her ability to pay.
The lack of supply is unintentionally pushing up the social housing price level, especially in projects that have been put into use. The price of about 25 million VND/m2 is considered attractive for social housing projects in the center, but many social housing projects in the vicinity of Ho Chi Minh City are also approaching this price threshold. In the secondary market, the price increase trend is even clearer. Many social housing projects are recording an increase from an average of 18-22 million VND/m2 to 30-45 million VND/m2 after a few years of opening for sale.
This story is not uncommon in Ho Chi Minh City, where millions of workers are looking for a place to settle down. Although social housing policies have been adjusted in the direction of expanding beneficiaries, in reality, the supply of products is still lacking, especially in major cities such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. People in need have to "hunt" red-eyed for information about social housing projects.
Workers still have difficulty accessing
A survey conducted by the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation with 200,000 workers showed a surprising result: 95% of workers have a need to buy a house, while only more than 5% want to rent a house to live in.
However, the reality is that income is a "wall" preventing them from settling down. With an average income of about 10 million VND/month, after deducting minimum living expenses, a worker can only have a surplus of 4 - 6 million VND. With a house priced at about 1 billion VND, if they are not sick, do not spend money, do not have parties, it will take 20 years for them to have enough money to buy. But at that time, the price of social housing would certainly have increased many times over.
The Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation has also proactively implemented many solutions. In the first quarter of 2026, this unit signed a strategic agreement with three large corporations to build about 80,000 social housing units. The goal by 2030 is to provide diverse products from rental, purchase to lease-purchase at the most affordable prices for workers' pockets.
But according to representatives of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation, the biggest "bottleneck" still lies in the credit mechanism and administrative procedures. Currently, preferential loan packages still have cumbersome procedures, and the installment payment time is not long enough, causing monthly financial pressure to still exceed workers' ability to pay.
The Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation proposed to simplify administrative procedures to the maximum for social housing projects for workers. Strengthen incentives for businesses investing in social housing through tax exemptions and long-term interest rate support. Extend the installment payment period and simplify loan conditions for workers to easily access.
To ensure that low-income people can truly settle down, Mr. Le Hoang Chau - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association - said that the key issue is not the selling price but the loan interest rate policy. A reasonable interest rate should be at 4.8%/year and a long-term loan term of up to 25 years to reduce monthly financial pressure for people.
Because in reality, many businesses are having to borrow commercial loans at high interest rates, ranging from 12-14% to implement projects, while the profit margin of social housing is strictly controlled at no more than 10%.Even the credit package of 145,000 billion VND (formerly the 120,000 billion VND package) is also considered "unsold" due to the initial interest rate being too high and legal procedure obstacles that prevent the project from being completed to be eligible for disbursement.
