VietNamNet Bridge – Banks in HCMC disbursed around VND300 billion out of the VND30-trillion credit package tailored for the real estate sector as of last Thursday.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the central bank’s HCMC branch, said that the disbursement rate has yet to show signs of improvement.

There have been 584 applicants registering to access the loan package. Of the figure, real estate company Hoang Quan has won approval to borrow VND540 billion and 526 individuals have registered to borrow over VND186 billion.

Up to now, Hoang Quan has obtained VND186 billion while individual homebuyers have taken out VND132 billion, or just VND318 billion in total.

Transport Engineering Construction and Business Investment Stock Company 584 is making procedures to borrow from the package. The enterprise has just been added to the list of businesses qualified for the program, Minh said.

Explaining slow disbursement rate for enterprises, Nguyen Viet Manh, director of the central bank’s Credit Department, said that most enterprises have yet to start construction, so they have no demand for capital. In addition, banks are still considering credit applications of many businesses.

For individual investors, Minh said that the lending rate is not an obstacle. The package offers homebuyers lending rate of 5% per annum, much lower than commercial rates applied by banks at 10-12% per annum.

In fact, lending procedures have yet to be simplified. Homebuyers have few choices as they are regulated to buy apartments measured at less than 70 square meters each and priced under VND15 million per square meter.

At present, the city is still facing shortage in budget home supply, Minh said.

Recently, the Ministry of Construction has signed a joint circular with three other ministries and agencies to speed up disbursement of the home loan package, according to Vneconomy.

Given the circular signed with the central bank, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Justice, budget home buyers will be able use the condo as mortgage to take out the loans.

According to a leader of the Ministry of Construction, this is a breakthrough in lending conditions for budget home buyers. Earlier, to access the VND30-trillion loan package, banks required borrowers to prove their solvency or have mortgage assets other than the homes they are about to buy.

In addition, procedures in housing condition verification will be loosened in the coming time to support residents, said Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Nam.    

Source: SGT