Need to avoid causing shock to the market
The issue of land prices continues to attract special attention after the 2024 Land Law is passed. Experts say that the construction of a land price list must ensure harmony between the interests of the state, businesses and people, avoid causing market shock or pushing young people out of their dream of settling down.
Lawyer Truong Anh Tu - Chairman of TAT Law Firm - is one of the strong supporters of the removal of the land price framework that has existed for more than 30 years. According to him, removing the price framework is reasonable and necessary for land to approach the market, but "it is not necessary to follow market prices at all costs". Because, after the law was issued, land prices increased sharply, leading to the consequences of "young people unable to buy a house, businesses have difficulty implementing projects due to high land use fees, up to tens of thousands of billions of VND". He emphasized: "Land prices must be reasonable, approached fairly, not to maximize budget revenue or business profits".
According to lawyer Tu, the State needs to make the valuation process transparent, publicize maps, calculation methods and input data through an open information portal. People need to know the facilities for collecting land use fees, avoiding the situation of receiving tax notices worth billions of dong without understanding why.
Regarding financial policy, lawyer Tu proposed to classify the obligation to pay land use fees: people who change the purpose of use should be exempted from fees or have flexible payment periods; businesses can calculate interest if they postpone payment. For adjacent plots of land where people have settled down, he recommended "exemption of all land use fees". Social housing and resettlement projects need to be excluded from the calculation method like commercial projects, in order to reduce the burden on people.
According to Mr. Tu, it is necessary to establish an independent valuation council with the participation of outside experts to ensure objectivity and control conflicts of interest. A good land price list, according to him, does not need to approach the market, but must "achrive to fairness, the payment ability of the majority and a sustainable development strategy" - Mr. Tu shared at the workshop "How is land price, land tax... reasonable?" organized by Thanh Nien Newspaper on July 22.
Young people will find it difficult to buy a house if the new price list is not carefully calculated
From the business perspective, Ms. Vo Nhat Lieu - Director of theproPIIN Institute for Real Estate Project Development Training - is concerned that if there is no appropriate stepping stone, the new land price list will shock the market, especially in 2026 when the policy is officially applied. According to her, 2022 has recorded many "land fevers" that caused prices in the suburbs to be unreasonably pushed up. If the new price list is not carefully calculated, people - especially young people - will have more and more difficulty buying a house.
For businesses, land use fees currently account for about 20% of the project value and are an unpredictable constant, causing difficulties in planning. Ms. Lieu proposed to classify land users to calculate the appropriate contribution rate: people using directly pay less, people owning many plots of land pay on average, commercial real estate investors pay 100% of the full amount. In addition, it is necessary to shorten administrative procedures, avoid the situation where a road in two provinces has double land prices due to different calculations in each place, creating opportunities for speculation for profit.
Dr. Tran Viet Anh - Vice Principal of Hung Vuong University - agreed with the proposal to reduce land use conversion fees, but said that the concept of "market price" needs to be redefined. He pointed out the fact that valuation based on land auctions is incorrect, because it does not reflect the real market.
In addition, finding a business to valuate land, especially public land, is facing difficulties due to fear of legal risks. Therefore, he suggested that there must be a clear roadmap to avoid causing shock to the market, while separating between commercial land and land serving social security.
Mr. Tran Viet Anh also proposed expanding the policy of exempting and reducing land use fees for social housing projects with long-term lease. This is an effective way to reduce housing prices. At the same time, it is necessary to promote investment procedure reform because "many projects last from 2 to 10 years, causing costs to increase and pushing land prices up".
