Legal problems for many "overwhelming" projects
For example, the Lancaster Lincoln project (No. 428 - 430 Nguyen Tat Thanh, Ward 18, District 4) of Lancaster Mid-Autumn Festival Company Limited, a member of Trung Thuy Group, was launched on the market in August 2017. After being offered for sale, the Lancaster Lincoln project was started, but after the tunnel was built, it was stopped due to not completing legal procedures.
Recently, according to the conclusion of the Government Inspectorate, the two land plots at 428 and 430 Nguyen Tat Thanh Street mentioned above were originally managed and used by state-owned enterprises but were then transferred to cooperatives and private enterprises to build a high-end apartment project (Lancaster Lincoln project) without auction, causing budget loss and wasting social resources.
Regarding the current status of the Lancaster Lincoln project, after constructing some items of the foundation and tunnel, the project has been suspended since 2018, causing great waste of land.
In Thu Duc City (HCMC), The Place Residence project, Mai Chi Tho Street, is built on a 2.45-hectare land plot with a construction density of 28%, owned by Novaland Group. The project was offered to the market by the investor from 2017 to 2018, many customers have also deposited to buy apartments here. However, up to now, the entire project has been suspended due to legal problems.
Similarly, at the end of 2018, Phuc Khang Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company (Phuc Khang Corporation) launched the Rome By Diamond Lotus project (at the corner of Mai Chi Tho - Dong Van Cong, An Phu ward, Thu Duc city). Although construction has not yet been implemented, the Rome By Diamond Lotus project has been introduced to the market by Phuc Khang Corporation, with a total area of 0.91 hectares in the entire area of up to 1.6 hectares. After nearly 6 years of launching on the market, the project has repeatedly put machinery into implementation, wrapped in corrugated iron and replaced the ribbon to create a new look, but to date the project has not been able to operate.
Not only that, there is also an even more painful reality, which is that completed resettlement housing projects are still abandoned. The most famous is the Binh Khanh Resettlement Area, which is included in the 12,500 apartment program for resettlement in Thu Thiem urban area. This resettlement complex is divided into two projects with the number of apartments being 2,220 and 1,570 respectively. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City spends more than 70 billion VND per year on maintenance and protection work.
Ho Chi Minh City still has a policy of auctioning the above apartment quantity. The auction is expected to be held before November 2025. It is known that Ho Chi Minh City has auctioned these apartments 3 times, but all 3 times they failed because no one participated in the auction.
Rescue to increase supply
According to data reported by the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association at the end of 2024, in terms of investment in commercial housing development in the last 5 years, Ho Chi Minh City only has 138 projects approved for investment, but in reality, only 52 projects are being implemented.
Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City has 86 commercial housing projects that have stopped construction or are not under construction (inventory) including 30 projects that have stopped construction with a land use scale of up to 210.30 hectares with 21,676 houses; 56 unconstructed projects with a land use scale of 754.08 hectares with 32,300 houses.
Of the 56 unconstructed projects, there are still projects that are still being cleared, which are investment projects in the construction of technical infrastructure and social infrastructure in Tan Tao Residential Center - Area A, Tan Tao Ward, Binh Tan District, with a very large land area of up to 329.96 hectares.
Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association, said that the 86 projects were in stock due to many reasons, mainly due to legal problems. With this large inventory, there have been many consequences, leading to waste of land resources, violating the principle of "economic and efficient land use" of the Land Law.
In addition, with the total number of houses in the above-mentioned inventory projects reaching more than 54,000 apartments and low-rise houses, it is increasing the shortage of housing supply and the imbalance of housing products, leading to a phase shift to the high-end housing segment, a lack of affordable housing.
"This is the main reason why housing prices have increased continuously over the past many years beyond the purchasing power of middle- and low-income people in society," said Mr. Le Hoang Chau.
