Mr. and Mrs. Pham Chinh, from Hung Yen, currently live and work in Hanoi. After more than 10 years of working, the couple's total income is about 40 million VND per month.
Although the family still has land in the countryside and can sell it to buy an apartment, Mr. Chinh believes that this is not a suitable choice. According to him, to own an apartment in Hanoi, the family must prepare about 4-5 billion VND, creating great financial pressure for many years. "Instead of putting all the money into buying a house and then paying long-term debts, my husband and I choose to rent an apartment near our workplace for about 7 million VND/month. Life is still stable, convenient for work and there is more money to accumulate" - Mr. Chinh shared.
Mr. Tran Duc Son said that his concept of "settling down" has changed. Instead of having to own land or apartments, he believes that renting a house can still bring a stable and long-term life.
For more than 10 years, Mr. Son has lived in a rented apartment, taking care of ornamental plants himself, investing in furniture and creating living space according to family preferences. "The important thing is that the accommodation is comfortable, safe and suitable for financial capacity. It is not necessary to own it to be considered stable" - Mr. Son said.
According to the Ministry of Construction, in recent years, apartment prices, townhouses, villas and land plots have continuously increased, averaging 10-15% per year, with periods increasing to 30%, while the average income per capita only increased by about 6-7%/year. The Ministry of Construction assesses that the rate of increase in house prices is almost double the rate of increase in income in the past decade, making access to housing increasingly difficult.
Dr. Ta Dinh Hoa - Academy of Finance - gave an example in Hanoi, with an average income per capita of about 7,000-8,000 USD/year, while house prices are commonly from 80-100 million VND/m2, people may have to spend 40-50 years, even 60 years to be able to own a house.
Therefore, renting a house is a reasonable financial problem for many young families.
The important thing is that costs are divided into smaller amounts each month instead of having to prepare a very large amount of money immediately. This helps young people have the opportunity to accumulate, invest or develop their careers instead of spending all resources to pay off house debts" - Mr. Hoa analyzed.
Chief of Office of the Ministry of Construction Lam Van Hoang said that rental housing is identified as a strategic, long-term segment to serve a large number of people, especially workers, laborers, students, officials, civil servants, public employees and armed forces.
