The law stipulates that five years after social housing buyers complete payments for apartments, they have the right to sell the social housing unit to those who have demand for accommodations if they have certificates.

Sellers do not have to pay land use fees but have to pay income tax in accordance with the current tax laws. However, if the sold social housing is a separate house, sellers have to pay land use fees as stipulated by the government’s legal documents and pay income tax as stipulated by tax laws.

As such, since August 1, when transferring social housing products after five years from the day of purchase, sellers only have to pay for notarization service, personal income tax, house registration tax, and certificate verification fees as the sellers of commercial apartments do.

Previously, when transferring one social housing product, sellers had to pay 50 percent of land use fees, which were between VND120-200 million for each apartment. With the new regulation, people no longer have to pay this fee.

The market has very few social housing projects for sale. This explains why the apartments in those projects that meet requirements to be transferred are offered at prices much higher than initial price levels.

Dai Kim Building and Rice City Linh Dam social housing projects have been used for more than five years and satisfy the requirements for transfer.

At Dai Kim Building in Hoang Mai district in Hanoi, the initial selling prices were below VND15 million per sq m, while the second prices were VND40-42 million per sq m

At Tay Nam Linh Dam social housing project in Hoang Mai district, apartments were delivered to primary buyers in 2016 at the price of VND13 million per sq m. But the apartment prices now are no less than VND42-44 million per sq m.

As for Rice City Song Hong in Long Bien district, apartments are offered at VND35-38 million per sq m. Six years ago, the project opened for sale at just VND13 million per sq m.

The sharpest price increase has been reported for Ngo Thi Nham social housing project in Ha Dong district. More than 10 years ago, apartments were sold at just VND8 million per sq m, but now they are priced at VND35-37 million per sq m, which means a sharp increase of four times.

According to Dang Duy, director of a real estate trading floor in Ha Dong, housing demand is increasing rapidly, especially for affordable products. 

Hong Khanh