Interest rates on home loans at commercial banks have now dropped sharply compared to 2023, along with preferential programs for those who want to borrow to buy a house. However, people still do not borrow much money to buy real estate or to repair their houses.
Citing data from the State Bank, it is said that by the end of September 2024, outstanding real estate credit reached VND3.15 trillion (accounting for nearly 21% of the total outstanding debt of the economy). Real estate loans increased by 9.15% (higher than the 9% increase in general credit), of which real estate business loans increased by 16%, but loans in the housing sector increased by only 4.6%.
Analysts say the main reason is that real estate prices remain high, beyond the financial capacity of the majority of people.
Mr. Dinh Minh Tuan - Southern Regional Director of Batdongsan.com.vn - a member of PropertyGuru Real Estate Technology Group - said that with two major cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the average real estate selling price in Hanoi has increased significantly in most segments. In particular, in November 2024, the average apartment selling price in Hanoi reached 61 million VND/m2, surpassing Ho Chi Minh City (55 million VND/m2).
A survey by this platform also shows that, out of 12 projects currently open for sale in Ho Chi Minh City, only 4 projects are priced under 60 million VND/m2, the rest are projects priced from 88 - 250 million VND/m2.
Data from OneHousing also shows that by the end of the third quarter of 2024, the lack of supply has not improved and mid-range projects are becoming increasingly scarce, pushing the average selling price of the entire market to continue to increase, reaching VND 80.2 million/m2, up 5% compared to the previous quarter.
In particular, the high-end and luxury segments continue to dominate with 90% of newly opened apartment supply priced from 60 million VND/m2 (excluding VAT and maintenance fees) or more. In particular, the Eastern area - which accounts for 65% of newly opened supply in the first 9 months of the year in Ho Chi Minh City - has established a new price level. Old projects that were temporarily suspended have shown signs of restarting and all have expected prices 2-3 times higher than the previously launched prices. In addition, most of the projects preparing to launch in this area also have expected prices of over 100 million VND/m2.
OneHousing commented that the apartment segment under 3 billion VND is gradually disappearing, such as the apartment segment under 2 billion VND has not appeared since 2023, or apartments under 1 billion VND have not appeared since 2020.
Mr. Le Hoang Chau - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association - commented that the real estate market has recovered, the problem now is how to make the market develop safely, healthily and sustainably.
Mr. Chau said that, to date, Ho Chi Minh City has achieved more than 1% of its social housing development target, while more than 70% of housing supply in recent years has been high-end apartments or higher. The market is developing unsustainably.
Real estate prices remain the biggest barrier for homebuyers. Although interest rates have fallen, the current price of real estate means that monthly payments are still a huge burden, especially for middle-income earners. Therefore, solutions are needed to bring home prices to a more reasonable level.
