Nghi, at a conference on ways to develop the real estate market in a safe, healthy and sustainable way held recently, said that the real estate sector is still having difficulty because of the pandemic, but it has been adapting quickly.

Regarding commercial housing supply, 172 projects with 24,027 products were completed in 2021, equal to 42 percent of 2020. The number of commercial housing projects was still modest in H1 2022 compared with the 12,000 products of the same period last year.

Regarding social housing supply, 279 projects with 148,000 products and total area of 7.4 million sq m were completed. The other 355 projects are under execution with about 377,000 products and total area of 18.84 million sq m.

In H1 2022, only three social housing projects for low income earners and IZ workers were completed with 6,000 products and total floor area of 300,000 sq m of gross floor area.

One project on social housing for Industrial Zone workers has been implemented with 400 apartments and a total area of 21, 500 sq m.

Under the government’s resolution on the socio-economic recovery and development program, localities have started implementing 11 projects with 25,675 products and total area of 1,282,850 sq m.

However, according to Nghi, the results of social housing remain modest compared with demand.

Regarding real estate transactions, about 110,000 transactions of apartments and houses were carried out in 2021, while the number of land transactions increased sharply with 170,000 transactions. The figures were 50,000 and 200,000 transactions, respectively, in H1 2022.

House and land prices continue to increase. Apartment prices increased by 5-7 percent in 2021, house prices by 15-20 percent and land prices by 20-30 percent compared with late 2020. The market witnessed "land fever" in late Q1 and early Q2, when prices soared dramatically.

The prices continued to increase in H1 2022 with the sharpest increases seen at the end of Q1, while they slowed down in Q2.

Real estate prices, especially houses and residential land, are going far beyond people’s income. This makes it difficult for low-income workers in urban areas and IZs to access accommodation. 

"In Hanoi and HCM City, there are almost no apartments with prices under VND25 million per sq m,” Nghi said.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who chaired the conference, said Vietnam’s top priority for now is stabilizing the macro economy and obtaining the growth rate set by the National Assembly. The property market plays a very important role in implementing these tasks.

Tran Thuong