Ms. Tran Thi Hoai (Cao Bang province) and her husband currently live and work in the center of Thai Nguyen province, with a total current income of about 32 million VND. However, with the cost of living quite expensive in urban areas, saving to buy a house is very difficult.
"The cost of living and raising 2 children in the city is very expensive and there are also additional things, so it is difficult to save a large amount of money to buy a house. I think that recently, the regulation to increase the total income of the couple to no more than 40 million VND/month to be eligible to buy social housing is very reasonable", Ms. Hoai shared.
Meanwhile, for unmarried people like Mr. Hoang Van Toan (Thai Nguyen province), the regulation that single people with an average income of no more than 20 million VND/month can buy social housing will help increase the chance of having a place to settle down and work.
Mr. Toan said: "Currently, the salary of technical workers like me has also been significantly increased, approaching 20 million VND/month. The cost of living has also increased, so the accumulation is not enough, it is necessary to be supported to be able to buy social housing".
Decree No. 261/2025/ND-CP has expanded the scope of subjects eligible to buy social housing through adjusting the income ceiling in accordance with real life. Accordingly, unmarried or single workers with an average income of no more than 20 million VND/month (an increase of 5 million VND compared to the old regulations) are allowed to buy social housing.
For married people, the total income of the couple does not exceed 40 million VND/month (an increase of 10 million VND compared to before) to be eligible to submit a social housing application.
For enterprises participating in social housing investment, Decree 261 is assessed to have removed many obstacles and difficulties such as reducing social housing lending interest rates from 6.6% to 5.4%/year, clearly defining the 20% commercial land fund with the land use cost of social housing projects.
Mr. Tran Thanh Binh - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tien Bo Group Joint Stock Company (investor of Binh Minh Phat Social Housing Project, Thai Nguyen) - said that the Government has adjusted many regulations to better suit reality, expanding beneficiaries and increasing feasibility for projects.
"This is a positive signal, creating motivation for businesses to invest in the social housing segment. On that basis, we are proposing to Thai Nguyen province to build 3 more buildings with over 300 apartments, bringing the total social housing fund of the project to about 1,500 apartments, contributing to increasing supply to the market", said Mr. Tran Thanh Binh.
In the 2021-2025 period, the whole Thai Nguyen province has about 37,000 people in need of social housing, in the 2025-2030 period, it is forecasted that there will be nearly 29,000 more people in need of buying or renting social housing, showing that the real demand is very large, requiring stable and long-term supply.
Thai Nguyen province has approved the investment policy for 4 social housing projects with a total scale of more than 2,000 apartments, of which 3 projects are expected to be completed this year with nearly 1,000 apartments handed over. These projects are considered to contribute significantly to solving the housing needs of thousands of workers and laborers in the area.
The social housing development target assigned by the Prime Minister to Thai Nguyen province in Decision No. 444/QD-TTg is to complete 1,084 units in 2025 and 23,116 units in the 2026-2030 period.
According to the Department of Construction of Thai Nguyen province, this unit has advised the Provincial People's Committee to review and adjust the social housing development plan according to the targets assigned by the Government. The whole Thai Nguyen province currently has 83 land locations, with a total area of over 250 hectares, enough to invest in the construction of about 24,000 social housing units by 2030.
