Research by Lao Dong Newspaper reporters on February 21 and February 2 shows that many social housing units (NOXH) in Hanoi are continuously increasing in price compared to the time of opening for sale.
For example, the NHS Trung Van social housing project (Nam Tu Liem district) was opened for sale in mid-2023 at a price of 19.5 million VND/m2. Up to now, although the project is about to be handed over in the first quarter of 2025, many apartments are being offered by owners for more than 50 million VND/m2.
In particular, commercial apartments with an area of 88m2, 3 bedrooms are being offered for sale at 5.7 billion VND, equivalent to 65 million VND/m2.
Similarly, the Dong Mo Dai Kim social housing project (Hoang Mai district) was opened for sale in 2016 with a price of only about 14 million VND/m2.
Up to now, many apartments are being advertised for sale at more than 60 million VND/m2 on social networks. The 2-bedroom apartments are commonly advertised by brokers for sale from 3.3 - 4.2 billion VND/unit.
Notably, at the 987 Tam Trinh social housing project (Yen So ward, Hoang Mai district) at the end of 2017, the selling price was about 14.2 million VND/m2 (excluding VAT). Commercial apartments here cost about 18 million VND/m2. Up to now, many of these social housing units are also being offered for sale at 55 - 60 million VND/m2.
Talking to Lao Dong, Mr. Nguyen Minh Quang (from Thanh Liem district, Ha Nam) informed that after many months of not being able to buy commercial apartments because of high prices, Mr. Quang has switched to buying apartments in old social housing projects but is also panicked because of skyrocketing prices.
Mr. Quang said that his family has researched the Rice City - Tay Nam Linh Dam social housing project (Hoang Liet ward, Hoang Mai district).
In 2015, a 67m2 apartment here cost about 1 billion VND/apartment, equivalent to 15 million VND/m2. Although the project has been occupied by residents since 2016 and 2017, the prices of many apartments here are now very high, with some apartments reaching over 4 billion VND/apartment, equivalent to over 50 million VND/m2.
To cool down social housing prices, Mr. Nguyen The Diep - Vice President of Hanoi Real Estate Club - proposed that there should be policies to promote businesses to participate in developing social housing projects.
Thereby, overcoming shortcomings in the process of handling procedures, ensuring the rights of participating enterprises, speeding up project progress, and increasing the supply of social housing to the market.
Many real estate experts also commented that the push of used social housing prices to too high not only goes against the original goal of the policy but also puts great pressure on low-income people.
Without timely intervention measures, social housing will be unlikely to avoid the trend of commercialization, making the dream of settling down for many people increasingly distant.
