Property experts urge reducing Vietnam social housing loan rates

Lending rates for social housing in Vietnam should be lowered to 3 percent to 3.5 percent a year, the HCM City Real Estate Association has proposed, Vietnam News reported.

The rates should be maintained to facilitate home ownership among low-income earners in the long term when the economy improves, the association’s president Le Hoang Chau said.

The association’s recommendations come as Vietnam develops a comprehensive social housing policy for the period 2021-2030.

The Vietnam Bank for Social Policies offers social housing lending rates at 3 percent to 4.8 percent. The institution, along with Vietcombank, Vietinbank, Agribank and BIDV, is participating in the government’s VND30-trillion (USD1.29 billion) package of preferential loans for social housing buyers and developers.

The rate for preferential loans under the package currently stands at 5 percent.

The association also exhorted the government to explore preferential corporate income tax rates, credit incentives, and other policies that spur the development of social housing projects and commercial housing projects for lease, Vietnam News noted.

In addition, the association also called for the development of affordable rental units, each sized at no more than 25 square metres.

The country has had an estimated deficit of 440,000 social housing units from 2011 to 2020, data from the Ministry of Construction showed. The supply to date, however, has met only 30 percent of demand, the association reported.