VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Construction is targeting an increase of 100,000sq.m of housing space each year during the 2011-20 period in an effort to meet demands and raise living standards.

The Ministry of Construction has targeted an increase in the number of apartment buildings and houses for rent over the next 10 years. (Photo: VNS)
The target was included in the National Housing Development Strategy toward 2020 with a vision to 2030 which was recently submitted to the Government for approval.

Under the strategy, at least 20 per cent of residential areas must be designated for social housing projects to benefit poor and low-income earners, providing them with consistent and stable homes.

The average housing space is also set to increase to 22sq.m per person by 2015 and 25sq.m by 2020. The average housing space was reported at 17.5sq.m at the end of last year, according to the ministry's summary report.

In addition, the increase of apartment buildings and houses for rent would be a focus in the coming years.

By 2015, apartment buildings must make up at least 30 to 80 per cent of new housing projects, depending on the type of urban area, together with a minimum of 20 per cent of houses for rent.

The current rate of apartment buildings remains low, about 1.2 per cent of the total living space in the country. The highest rate was seen in Ha Noi at 16.6 per cent while it reached just 6 per cent in HCM City, despite the fact that most housing projects were implemented in the two cities.

To achieve this goal, private investment should be sourced and the public should be encouraged to rent apartments or houses, rather than trying to build their own, Construction Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said. Under the plan, an additional 10 million square metres of social housing space were planned to be on offer in urban areas by 2015 and 12.5 million square metres by 2020.

According to the minister, many projects did not comply with these planning regulations and localities were not paying enough attention to people's housing demands. This had caused an imbalance in the real estate market and pushed up house prices, making them unaffordable to a large number of residents, especially low-income earners in urban areas.

Dung emphasised that the quality of social housing projects must be improved to give the poor and low-income earners a real home.

The ministry also proposed to promote the efficiency of land use while boosting the establishment and operation of funds for housing development.

Nearly 5.7 million households throughout the country have less than 10 square metres for each person to live in.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News