BUDGET HOUSING STILL IN SHORT SUPPLY

The real estate market remained unstable in January-September this year, with social housing and low-cost commercial apartments still in short supply, according to the Ministry of Construction.

While there were no new housing projects approved in the third quarter of the year, only 12% of the 3,600 available housing units for sale during the quarter were priced at VND2 billion each. Housing units costing more than VND4 billion each accounted for 85% of the total.

Hanoi City saw a record-breaking 15 straight quarters of condo housing prices soaring. It is even expected to reach the capacity limit in the VND2-billion housing category.

In HCMC, the housing segment with prices lower than VND2 billion per unit saw no supply in 2021 and the first nine months of 2022. However, the city saw a surge in high-end apartment supply. Luxury housing made up 25.5% of the market supply in 2017, 67.1% in 2019 and 72.0% in 2021.

Between January and September this year, the figure rose to 80.2%.

Additionally, market disinformation has been spread by intermediaries, entailing a housing rush and challenging homebuyers’ affordability.

“The typical residential housing price is now 20 times higher than the average annual income of an average person,” said the HCMC Real Estate Association.

According to the Ministry of Construction, some 400 projects providing roughly 450,000 social and low-cost housing units have been implemented in many localities, particularly in Hanoi, HCMC and Binh Duong Province.

The number of under-construction projects accounted for 34.4% of the total.

In total, the country has built about 300 social housing projects, with the combined floor space of eight million square meters.

Still, the construction of housing projects has faced hurdles in terms of administrative red tape, added the ministry.

According to the authorities, the rising cost of construction materials and a lack of businesses’ labor and capital have also impeded the project’s implementation.

Source: The Saigon Times