This is a very noteworthy and necessary orientation in the current context. Because land prices are directly related to people's lives, business operations and the costs of the entire economy.
A piece of land pushed up too high in price can benefit some people in resale.
But when the land price of the whole area is dragged up, people who need to buy houses have to pay more money, businesses have to bear larger land costs and the State also faces difficulties in site clearance and infrastructure investment.
In fact, there have been times when, in localities, just with information about an infrastructure project, a new plan or the possibility of upgrading administrative units, land prices in an area could increase rapidly.
It is worth mentioning that in these cases, the price offered for sale is not necessarily the successful transaction price. And even the price recorded in the contract does not necessarily fully reflect the actual amount of money exchanged by the parties.
That is one of the biggest difficulties when determining land prices.
Therefore, the important thing in the orientation that the Government has put forward this time is not only that "land prices are decided by the State", but more importantly, that price must be decided based on data, scientific methods, publicity, and transparency.
But to have a land price that is realistic, first of all, there must be real data.
A complete land database needs to indicate where a land plot is located, what the area is, what the purpose of use is, how the history has changed and especially the actual transactions in the market.
That data also needs to be connected to information on taxes, notarization, planning, construction and related specialized data so that management agencies have a sufficiently broad picture when determining land prices.
When the data is large enough and transparent, transactions with unusual prices are also easier to identify, instead of becoming a basis for unintentionally pulling the price level of the entire region up.
Of course, the State deciding land prices does not mean establishing an administrative price level separate from the reality of the market.
Low land prices that are too far from reality may lead to inadequacies in compensation, financial obligations and resource allocation.
Conversely, land prices that are determined too high will increase the costs of people and businesses and may become an obstacle to investment and production and business.
Therefore, the ultimate goal of the State deciding land prices is not to make land prices higher or lower, but to bring land prices back to a reasonable level, reflecting the true value and minimizing the possibility of being manipulated.
Land is a special resource of the nation. That resource needs to be put into production, business, housing construction, infrastructure and create new value for society, instead of becoming the subject of fevers and rounds of buying and selling to make a profit.
And if land prices are no longer led by rumors, speculation or unusual transactions, the starting point must still be a complete, accurate and transparent data system.
