“People have to stay up all night lining up to buy social housing, while shady agents pocket money from them, making the policy meaningless,” Bui Sy Loi, former deputy head of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture and Society, told VietNamNet.

Reality reflects his concerns. Rising social housing prices, inflated application fees, and markups of hundreds of millions of dong have pushed the dream of homeownership further away, for example, for Thu Huong, 37, in HCMC.

Moving from Dak Lak to HCMC for work 18 years ago, Huong recalled that her monthly salary in 2007 was just over VND1 million, and rent was VND300,000. A room under 20 sqm was shared by five migrant workers.

By 2025, her rent and expenditures for utilities rose to VND4 million per month, while her base salary as a garment worker (without overtime) was only VND8 million.

“After paying rent and essential expenses, I have nothing left. Sometimes I skip breakfast because even a bowl of noodles costs at least VND25,000–30,000. The dream of a small home to avoid monthly rent feels too far away,” she said.

According to the Vietnam Social Housing Report 2023 by Cushman & Wakefield, home prices in Vietnam are about 20 times higher than the average annual income per capita, making ownership increasingly difficult.

Demand for housing among low-income workers in industrial zones is estimated at 2.4 million units for 2021–2030, based on a survey by the Ministry of Construction. Even with the existing completed supply in 2023 and future supply, the market will still be short of over 1 million units, equivalent to 51 percent of the total demand.

This situation calls for rebalancing solutions. Developing social housing should serve as a tool to ensure social welfare and promote a sustainable real estate market.

However, Nguyen Hoang Binh, lecturer at RMIT Vietnam, believes there are limitations and inconsistencies in policies related to social housing developers.

Currently, procedures for land preparation and allocation are prolonged, causing high risks. The stages—detailed planning, identifying a social housing land fund, changing land use purpose, and site clearance—all take time. 

Along with this, the methods for project designation or bidding is inconsistent among localities, and the land-use coefficient is unreasonable.

In addition, preferential capital sources for both supply (developers) and demand (buyers) are unstable. Commercial credit interest rates are high, while the price ceiling leads to thin profit margins, making it unattractive to businesses. Long-term mobilization tools like social bonds have not been effective.

In addition, risk compensation mechanisms are limited. For example, the ratio of commercial area to offset costs is not flexible; development rights are difficult to transfer; and investor selection processes remain opaque and time-consuming.

As a social housing developer, Tran Duc Quang from Nam Long JSC, Can Tho branch, said that businesses face challenges such as high input costs, complicated investment procedures, a lack of clean land funds, and limited credit capital.

"Social housing projects often have low-profit margins and need a committed profit ceiling with the Government, and complex investment procedures cause many businesses to hesitate to participate. The biggest challenge when implementing a project is legal procedures and the problem of balancing the selling price with the quality of life for residents," Quang said.

He also noted issues in verifying eligibility for social housing. For informal workers, some ward and commune authorities lack sufficient grounds to confirm their incomes.

Solutions to curb shady agents and remove bottlenecks

Regarding solutions to support social housing developers, Binh from RMIT Vietnam suggested that localities should prepare cleared land, and publish preferential land-use coefficients based on distance from city centers or metro stations (if any).

Authorities should consider introducing “supplementary development rights” for social housing projects in height-restricted zones, allowing developers to sell or exchange these rights in other areas of the city. This would provide flexibility and reduce pressure on the state budget.

For financing, the government should implement preferential credit packages for suppliers (lower interest rates, grace periods during construction) along with demand-side support through the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies and refinanced commercial banks. Encouraging social bonds for social housing projects is also essential.

Regarding legal procedures, Binh suggested establishing a one-stop urban-level mechanism for bidding and investor selection, with clear timelines for each stage (planning, land, environment, fire safety, construction permits).

Tran Chung