Ms. Tran Thi Minh (living in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi) said that the current salary of both her and her husband is about 20-25 million VND/month. Therefore, it took many years of saving for her and her husband to be able to buy a social housing at this time.
According to Ms. Minh, a 67m2 apartment at the Rice City Linh Dam social housing project (Hoang Mai district) opened for sale in 2015 for only about 1 billion VND/apartment, equivalent to about 15 million VND/m2.
However, after 9 years, many apartments here are being sold at prices of more than 50 million VND/m2, making many people stunned.
"With my husband and I's current salary, it is difficult to buy a social housing house. If we want to buy one, we have to borrow more from friends and relatives. I was also surprised when the price of a used social housing house in Hoang Mai district (Hanoi) is being advertised for sale at more than 50 million VND/m2, equal to that of a commercial apartment," said Ms. Minh.
Also surprised by the high price of social housing, Mr. Nguyen Hong Quang (born in 1989, from Ha Nam) said that in 2022, his family bought an old 67m2, 2-bedroom apartment at the old social housing project The Vesta Phu Lam (Ha Dong) for 23 million VND/m2. However, up to now, many old social housing houses here are being sold for 35-45 million VND/m2, depending on the location.
Mr. Quang added that in 2018, the social housing project The Vesta Phu Lam opened for sale at only about 15 million VND/m2. Since then, the price of apartments here has increased by billions of VND/unit.
In fact, the increase in social housing prices after many years of use has also appeared in many other projects in Hanoi. The Housing Law 2023, effective from August 1, 2024, stipulates that buyers of social housing, which is an apartment, can sell it after 5 years and do not have to pay land use fees.
Furthermore, the 2023 Housing Law also stipulates that after 5 years from the date of full payment for the house purchase, the buyer of social housing can resell it according to the market mechanism to those in need if a certificate has been granted.
Meanwhile, the report of the Ministry of Construction submitted to the Prime Minister on the implementation of investment in the construction of at least 1 million social housing apartments in the period of 2021 - 2030 shows that the total number of social housing apartments started and completed to date has only reached about 35.6% of the target of the Government's project to develop at least 1 million social housing units by 2025.
It can be seen that the number of completed social housing units is low compared to the set target. Not to mention that from now until 2025, Hanoi City is expected to complete 3 more projects with 1,700 apartments, meeting about 9% of the people's needs.
Referring to this issue, Mr. Nguyen The Diep - Vice President of Hanoi Real Estate Club - emphasized that in order to increase the supply of social housing in the market, there must be policies to encourage businesses to participate in developing social housing projects.
From there, overcome shortcomings in the procedure processing process, ensure the rights of participating businesses, and speed up the progress of social housing projects.
Experts believe that groups of people such as officials, civil servants, workers, soldiers in the armed forces and urban workers are in urgent need of social housing and should be given top priority in terms of housing.
