The draft amendment to the Land Law proposes removing the principle of valuing land based purely on market mechanisms. Instead, the State, as the representative owner of land, would have the authority to set primary market prices - covering land allocation, leasing, change of use, and recognition of land use rights - regardless of independent valuation results.

Dr. Pham Viet Thuan, Director of the Institute for Natural Resources and Environmental Economics in Ho Chi Minh City, said this aligns with Vietnam’s socialist-oriented market economy and can stabilize prices, curb speculation, and ensure transparency. Once primary prices are set, secondary prices can be derived through adjustment coefficients, reducing volatility and price manipulation.

Nguyen Quynh Trang, Head of Valuation & Advisory at Savills Hanoi, called this a major policy shift but stressed its success depends on accurate, up-to-date data. Without a comprehensive national land valuation database, prices may not reflect real value, creating inconsistencies across regions. She said independent valuation organizations and real transaction data remain essential to objectivity.

The draft law separates the roles of valuation advisors, appraisal councils, and provincial People’s Committees, which issue final prices. Trang welcomed this as a step toward reducing conflicts of interest, but warned that appraisal councils - currently composed mainly of local officials - often lack deep technical expertise. She urged improving the skills of valuation bodies, adding independent experts, and making valuation processes and criteria public.

Some businesses fear removing the market principle could make land costs harder to predict, impacting financial planning. Trang suggested a hybrid model: keeping market references in areas with strong data, while applying stable pricing in regions lacking reliable information.

The draft also proposes building detailed land price lists down to individual plots where digital cadastral maps exist. This could speed up land allocation, leasing, and compensation processes. However, Trang cautioned that incomplete and inconsistent data could limit accuracy. She recommended piloting in cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang before expanding nationwide.

Nguyen Le