According to statistics from DKRA Consulting Real Estate Services Consulting Company, in August, the home loan interest rate for fixed loans of 12-24 months at 11 popular commercial banks was 10.9% per year.
Some banks apply high levels, such as VPBank 13.2% for 12-month fixed loans, MSB and ACB have preferential interest rates of about 11%, while VIB is at 11.1% for 12-month terms and 12% for 24-month terms. The foreign banking group recorded a strong adjustment when Standard Chartered increased preferential loan interest rates from 7.5% to 9.8% per year, adding 2.3 percentage points; Hong Leong Bank increased from 8.9% to 10.5%, adding 1.6 percentage points. Shinhan Bank also raised the 12-month fixed interest rate to about 10%.
In the opposite direction, only a few banks maintain fixed 12-month interest rates below 10%, such as HDBank 9.8%, VietBank 9.5% and Woori Bank 9.3%. Compared to the same period last year, the preferential interest rate level has increased significantly.
This means that the cost of using leverage to buy a house increases. Mr. Nguyen Le (resident in Thanh My Tay ward, Ho Chi Minh City) said that in 2024, he and his wife boldly borrowed nearly 2 billion VND to buy a house because at that time, banks were implementing preferential loans for young people to buy houses with interest rates ranging from 6 - 6.5%/year for two years.
However, at the beginning of August 2026, after the preferential period expired, he received a notice from the bank about the loan interest rate being adjusted to 10%/year. This means that previously the monthly interest was less than 10 million VND, but now it has increased to over 13 million VND per month.
Even, many customers are worried sick because the interest rate has been adjusted to a fairly high level. As in the case of Ms. Tu Tran (residing in An Phu ward, Ho Chi Minh City), she said that she borrowed to buy an old apartment, after the preferential period, at the end of 2025, the interest rate was adjusted to 12%. From the end of May 2026 to now, the interest rate of her apartment purchase loan contract has been announced by the bank to be adjusted to 13.5%/year.
Most homebuyers are only willing to borrow when the interest rate is below 9% per year, while the current generalized loan interest rate is 12-14%, creating a large gap between expectations and reality.
Dr. Nguyen Duy Phuong - Financial Director of DG Capital - said that for a household with a total income of less than 30 million VND per month, if they want the loan repayment to account for only 20-40% of their income (equivalent to 6-12 million VND per month), they can only borrow about 1-1.2 billion VND for 20 years with an interest rate of 8-10% per year. This means that buyers must have about 60% of the house value available.
If borrowing 50% of the value of assets in the same period, buyers will have to pay about 12-14 million VND per month when the interest rate is at 8-10%, equivalent to 42-48% of income. In case the interest rate increases to 12-14%, the installment payment can account for up to 55-60% of income. Therefore, to decide to borrow to buy a house in the current context, people are forced to have higher income or accumulate a larger proportion of equity to reduce debt repayment pressure.
Loan interest pressure is directly affecting both buyers and businesses. Increased financial costs have caused many customers to postpone their home purchase plans due to concerns about long-term debt repayment, while investors are also facing more difficulties in consuming products due to the shrinking number of eligible customers for loans.
Financial pressure is clearly reflected in the market liquidity in the second quarter of 2026. According to report data from Dat Xanh Services, when the general interest rate level was 9-11% in 2025, the absorption rate of new supply reached about 45-50%. However, when interest rates increased to 12-14% in the first half of this year, the absorption rate decreased to 20-30%, showing that buyers are increasingly cautious about escalating capital costs.
In the context of high house prices, interest rates will continue to be a decisive factor in the recovery of the real estate market. Experts believe that if the interest rate level remains around 13-15%, the absorption rate in the real estate market may fall below 20% in the late period of this year.
