According to surveys at many banks, home loan interest rates currently range from 8-10% per year. Specifically, in the group of State-owned commercial banks, Agribank offers home loans with a first-year interest rate of 8.5% per year. Vietcombank has a real estate loan package with interest rates of 8.5% per year for the first 12 months, 8.8% for the first 18 months, and 9.7% the first 36 months.

The interest rate for real estate loans at Techcombank in the first six months is 8.5% per year and 9% per year for the first year.

ACB has also launched a real estate loan package with sharply reduced interest rates and many attractive policies. Specifically, the first-year interest rate fluctuates at 8% per year.

Foreign-owned banks have also stepped in to reduce home loan interest rates. For example, Shinhan Vietnam offers home loans with an interest rate of 8.3% per year for the first six months and 9.7% per year in the following years; or 8.5% per year in the first year, 9.3% per year in the first two years, and 9.5% per year in the first three years.

At Wooribank, the first-year loan interest rate drops to 8% per year, and the following year's interest rate floats at only about 8.8-9% per year.

Hoang Hai, director of the Ministry of Construction’s Department of Housing and Real Estate Market Management, said that as of August 31 this year, outstanding loans for real estate business activities reached nearly 986.5 trillion VND, an increase of more than 26 trillion VND compared to 30 July this year.

Of this, outstanding loans for urban area construction investment projects and housing development projects are nearly 266.25 trillion VND, and the value for office projects, industrial park and export processing construction projects, and tourist, ecological and resort projects was 40.62 trillion VND, 56.57 trillion VND, and 53.86 trillion VND, respectively.

However, Hai said the loans were mainly for real estate developers, while those for real estate buyers were insignificant.

A leader of a State-owned bank, who declined to be named, attributed the low demand for real estate loans by individual customers to the economic difficulties that affect people's income. Therefore, even though there is demand for housing, it is difficult for banks to stimulate demand for home purchase credit in the current period. On the other hand, the real estate market remains quiet, so individual customers are not interested in borrowing money to buy houses. They expect house prices and interest rates to decrease further.

Compared to the beginning of this year, lending interest rates are currently considered reasonable and are expected to return to low levels, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, by the end of the year./.VNS