The above reality was raised by delegate Le Hoang Anh (National Assembly Delegation of Gia Lai province) at the discussion session on the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and state budget in the first months of 2026, which took place on the morning of April 21.
Credit pours into real estate, house prices far exceed people's income
For the Vietnamese economy to grow at double digits, according to delegate Le Hoang Anh, there are two major groups of issues that need to be concerned by the National Assembly and the Government.
First of all, the prolonged situation of credit flowing in the wrong places. Private investment in Vietnam depends on about 80% of bank credit, while lending interest rates are high, making only industries with large profits or asset speculation activities can bear it. As a result, most of the capital flow into real estate is speculative.
The delegate cited that house prices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are currently at 25-30 times the average annual income, while international practice is 4-6 times.
Young people working hard for 30 years cannot afford to buy a house as much as they inherit a piece of land," the delegate stated, while warning that this could shake confidence in fairness and become a long-term socio-political issue.
The delegate cited data that real estate credit balance increased sharply in the past 4 years, increasing by 32% and 2.4 times the growth rate of industry.
In 2025, real estate credit was 1.81 times larger than industrial credit and 5.3 times larger than agricultural, forestry and fishery credit. The real estate and construction sector alone accounted for 27.4% of the total credit of the entire system.
In the two years 2024 - 2025, real estate credit increased sharply by 37.6%, while industrial credit only increased by 9.4%.
From the above figures, he likened, the economy is "running a marathon with its feet tied" when capital is locked in speculative assets instead of flowing into real-value areas.
The Government needs to control speculative real estate credit using market tools, avoiding rigid administrative orders. At the same time, adjust to shift capital flows to production and technology. In addition, it is necessary to apply a mechanism to collect land use fees based on economic efficiency and the time of land use" - the delegate stated.
High ICOR due to spreading investment, lack of capital discipline
The second issue raised by delegate Le Hoang Anh is low investment efficiency, reflected in the high ICOR index, due to three main reasons: Public investment is still spread out, many projects are slow to put into use; weak investment preparation, efficiency assessment is not emphasized and the situation of slow capital allocation and prolonged debt.
Regarding the solution to lower ICOR, delegate Le Hoang Anh proposed to cut at least 30% of projects, but must follow the principle of eliminating ineffective projects and keeping projects with spillover value. At the same time, soon issue guidelines for socio-economic efficiency accounting suitable for each type of project, avoiding applying a set of common criteria.
Notably, he emphasized that it is necessary to compulsorily evaluate the results after 3 years of project completion compared to the initial commitment, publicize the results and link them with the legal responsibility of the implementing entity. In addition, it is necessary to promote digital transformation in public investment management, monitor progress, disburse in real time, and interconnect between relevant agencies.
To actually lower ICOR, it is necessary to digitize the entire life cycle of public investment capital" - the delegate stated.
Also discussing this content, delegate Nguyen Hai Nam (National Assembly Delegation of Hue City) said that the lower the ICOR, the higher the investment efficiency. Assuming lowering the ICOR to 4.5%, he said that total social investment must reach about 40% of GDP, equivalent to more than 200 billion USD.
The delegate analyzed that there are currently investment capital channels including: Through bank credit and through the capital market (including bonds, stocks). In which, the bank credit borrowing channel is high pressure, potential risk of bad debts or capital adequacy ratio (CAR - Index K). Therefore, he believes that it is necessary to strongly develop the capital market channel, including bonds and stocks.
The delegate proposed 5 groups of solutions: Completing the relevant legal corridor; improving transparency, encouraging credit ratings; developing a system of investors and financial intermediaries; promoting new types of bonds such as green bonds and improving the efficiency of the secondary market, building a yield curve as a basis for valuation.
