The difficult problem of finance when people want to change land use purposes
After the merger of administrative units, Ho Chi Minh City agreed to continue applying the current land price list of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau (old) until the end of 2025. However, many opinions are concerned that land prices will fluctuate strongly from January 1, 2026. Many people are upset when the cost of converting agricultural land use to residential land is currently higher than the value of the land. In some places such as Hoc Mon (old), the new land price list has increased 38 times, causing many households to not have enough financial capacity.
A family in Hoc Mon built a house in 2005, and in 2024 applied for a red book and was informed that they had to pay nearly 1.7 billion VND in land tax, while the land was left by their grandparents. The prescribed price is more than 11 million VND/m2 for the painting area of 208m2.
Mr. Le Khanh Quang - General Director of Viet An Hoa Company - said that the current land price calculation method is too high and unreasonable. He suggested that only about 30-40% should be collected to avoid burdening the people. Residential land prices are calculated according to the market, while agricultural land is too low, leading to unfairness when taxes are calculated equally. Mr. Quang suggested that the 2026 land price list should be adjusted to a maximum of 20% per year, avoiding sudden changes and preventing the situation of "virtual land prices".
Proposal to reduce land use fees for people
Regarding the case of calculating land use fees for households and individuals when converting land use purposes from agricultural land to residential land, in an interview with the press, Mr. Vo Anh Tuan - Deputy Director of the Department of Land Management (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) shared: In the work of building land price lists for localities, the land price list applied for the first time will be announced in 2026, the time for calculating land prices will be extended to help localities adjust to avoid shock after merger information.
Recently, many localities have adjusted the land price list, reviewed and narrowed the difference in the land price list to avoid sudden price increases affecting the rights and obligations of the people. However, reality also shows that some localities do not adjust in a timely manner or are too high, causing impacts on society. The reason is that the calculation method still has many unsuitable points for agricultural land in residential areas.
Mr. Le Tan Can - Deputy Minister of Finance - also said that the Ministry has received many comments because the land price on the land price list in some localities determined by the 2024 Land Law is dramatically higher than the old land price list.
In particular, residential land prices have increased many times compared to agricultural land prices, so when the State allows the conversion of land use purposes from agricultural land to residential land, households and individuals must pay land use fees many times higher than before.
The Ministry of Finance has issued an official dispatch requesting localities to promptly report on the implementation of land use fee calculation when changing land use purposes for households and individuals.
The Ministry of Finance plans to submit to the Government a plan to reduce land use fees when people switch from agricultural land to residential land in the context of land prices in some localities being dramatically higher than the old land price list.
The land price list will be valid for 5 years, with an annual adjustment coefficient
The Department of Land Management (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) said that it is proposing to amend and include in the amendment of Decree 71 and the Land Law submitted to the National Assembly in October, which may overcome the difficulties of localities in the past in land valuation.
In the orientations, the land price list will be basically applied along with adjustment coefficients, it is expected that the land price list will be valid for 5 years while the adjustment coefficient will be reviewed and adjusted annually.
