The savings journey of workers when buying a house in Hanoi

Need to submit documents directly to investors

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuc, his wife and 2 children are living in a 49m2 apartment in the CT4 social housing area (Kim Chung commune, Dong Anh district, Hanoi). With a stable house, he is more assured, even though he still has the burden of paying off debts.

Mr. Thuc has been a technical staff at a company in Thang Long Industrial Park (Hanoi) since 2008, and his wife started working in 2011. The couple has lived together since 2012 and spent many years renting a room, from when they were single to getting married and having children. Previously, Mr. Thuc stayed in a room of only 15-20 square meters, then moved to a private house of 60 square meters with more private space but at a higher cost. Each month, the couple has to pay 1.9 million VND for renting a house, accounting for about 1/6 of their total income.

It was not until 2021, when CT4 social housing opened for sale, that he was able to buy a social housing unit. Remembering that time, he still wasn't sure if he could buy a house. Before buying the house, he only had more than 100 million VND in hand. He had to borrow from his family (about 30 million VND) and mainly from the bank with an amount of nearly 500 million VND, to repay the debt within 15 years. The total cost of buying his house was 670 million VND.

"I enjoyed a preferential interest rate of 6.8% for the first 2 years, paying more than 6 million VND per month in principal and interest. Then the monthly payment increased to 8-8.5 million VND/month. My salary is almost used to pay the bank - Mr. Thuc said.

Mr. Thuc and his wife have to save more and work extra to increase their income. "Up to this point, I still owe the bank 380 million VND" - Mr. Thuc shared.

Talking about his experience, Mr. Thuc advised that buyers need to carefully research the investor, project and house price at the same time, clearly understand the regulations and procedures for buying social housing to prepare complete and accurate documents and submit them directly to the investor, avoiding going through brokers.

More comfortable when living in a new house

Also buying a social housing unit was Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy (from Vinh Phuc, born in 1985), who has worked in Thang Long Industrial Park (Dong Anh, Hanoi) for 18 years. In the cozy 48m2 house, Ms. Thuy and her husband have devoted a lot of effort. "After more than 10 years of renting a room, I don't know how many times I have moved but still haven't been satisfied. Now I still owe, but being in my own house makes me feel very comfortable" - Ms. Thuy said.

To buy their dream house, Ms. Thuy and her husband had 500 million VND in available money and borrowed an additional 200 million VND from the bank. Ms. Thuy borrowed from the bank for a term of 10 years, paying more than 3 million VND/month in principal and interest each month. Ms. Thuy and her husband's total income is 25 million VND/month, raising 2 children to study, Ms. Thuy said it is quite expensive, so they have to save and not dare to buy much.

Regarding the experience of buying social housing, Ms. Thuy said that workers need to have an amount of 300-500 million VND, and should not borrow too much from the bank because of high interest rates. In addition, a total income of 20 million VND/month is enough to support. "A 50m2 social housing unit currently costs about 1 billion VND, if you only have 100-200 million VND and then borrow from the bank, it will be very difficult to pay monthly" - Ms. Thuy said.