When will the dream of settling down come true?

Rising house prices, while incomes cannot keep up, make the dream of owning a home increasingly out of reach for many people.

At the 2025 Housing Real Estate Forum organized by the Vietnam Real Estate Association (VNREA) in collaboration with the Lao Dong Newspaper and the Real Estate Review Community on the afternoon of September 18, Dr. Can Van Luc, Chief Economist of BIDV and member of the advisory board, said that a civil servant in Vietnam currently needs nearly 26 years of continuous work to be able to buy an apartment. This evidence reflects that real estate prices are far beyond the income of the majority of people.

Out of reach

In fact, there are quite a few people similar to the case that Dr. Can Van Luc cited.

Mr. Dinh Thanh (residing in Phuoc Long ward, Ho Chi Minh City) said that after many years of saving about 1.5 billion VND, he planned to borrow more capital from the bank to buy a 1-bedroom apartment (50 m2), priced at about 3.2 billion VND in Binh Trung ward (old Thu Duc city). However, in just a few months, the price of the above apartment increased to about 3.6-3.8 billion VND, forcing Mr. Thanh's plan to buy a house to be postponed.

According to the reporter of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, the price of apartments in Ho Chi Minh City has continuously increased in a short period of time, reducing the opportunity for people to access housing. Currently, the average price of apartments in Ho Chi Minh City has reached 80-89 million VND/m2; many projects exceed 100 million VND/m2. Meanwhile, in 2024, the average GRDP per capita of Ho Chi Minh City will be about 7,600 USD, or more than 197 million VND (equivalent to 16.4 million VND/month) at the current exchange rate, ranking 2nd among centrally-run cities, after Hai Phong . For young people with an income of 20 million VND per month (higher than the average figure of 16.4 million VND above), even if they save everything, it will take many years to buy a house.

Offering apartments for sale at a project on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: TAN THANH

According to a report from Batdongsan.com.vn, in just the past 2 years, land prices have increased by 44%, apartments by 42%, private houses by 28%, and project land by 14%. In Ho Chi Minh City, after the merger, real estate prices have increased sharply, in some places by 30%-60%; apartment prices alone have increased by about 10%-18%.

According to statistics from the Institute of Economics ( Ministry of Construction ) in August 2025, in Ho Chi Minh City, apartments cost over 50 million VND/m2, accounting for 33% of the total housing supply in Ho Chi Minh City. With the income of young people, to buy an average apartment of 70 m2, they have to spend an amount equivalent to 2.5 billion to nearly 4 billion VND.

Dr. Can Van Luc said that incomes have not increased as fast as real estate prices, making the goal of owning a home increasingly out of reach for many people. Dr. Tran Du Lich said: "The current real estate market is like an airplane with only business class, no houses for middle-income people."

Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc Lien, Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam, Region 2, said that the goal of settling down in the city is a big challenge for many people, especially young people who do not have much savings. According to Ms. Lien, to support people in accessing housing, there needs to be more practical and synchronous solutions. In particular, commercial banks are encouraged to continue researching and developing flexible credit products, with long loan terms and reasonable interest rates so that borrowers can stabilize their income and cash flow to ensure their ability to repay debts.

Create access opportunities for people

Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), affirmed that rising housing prices put great pressure on the economy. The fact that luxury apartments account for more than 90% and the mid-range segment is almost shrinking is an "inverted pyramid" phenomenon, clearly showing the shortcomings of the real estate market.

To bring housing and land prices closer to reality and increase access for people, Mr. Chau made many recommendations, including removing legal obstacles for real estate projects; promoting the development of social housing; creating more credit packages with preferential interest rates for buyers as well as project investors.

Mr. Le Huu Nghia, General Director of Le Thanh Construction and Trading Company Limited, said that recently, the Government and the Prime Minister have paid great attention and given strong direction on promoting the construction of social housing. However, the bottlenecks and shortcomings in policies and legal regulations have not been completely resolved and handled. Due to these difficulties and shortcomings, many social housing projects in Ho Chi Minh City as well as many localities have not been able to be implemented.

According to Mr. Nghia, along with the newly issued policies and regulations on preferential interest rates, businesses really need the Government and the State to quickly remove difficulties to re-implement the project. When supply increases and at reasonable prices, it will help people have more choices.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Vuong Duy Dung - Deputy Director of the Department of Housing and Real Estate Market Management (Ministry of Construction) - said that the Government is focusing on reforming procedures related to investment, land, planning, and construction, to simplify and reduce costs for businesses to increase supply to the market.

According to Mr. Dung, recently, thanks to the Government's drastic intervention and the Prime Minister's timely direction to resolve problems, the supply of housing, especially social housing, has had positive changes.

"Although challenges remain, the room for sustainable housing growth is large and clear. The State and businesses need to continue to work together to balance prices, supply and real demand of the people," Mr. Dung emphasized.

There will be a national housing fund for rent.

Mr. Chu Van Hai, Head of the Department of Social Housing Management and Development, Department of Housing and Real Estate Market Management (Ministry of Construction), emphasized that the Ministry of Construction is determined to complete the 1 million apartment project.

According to Mr. Hai, the Ministry of Construction is also preparing to submit to the Government a National Housing Fund for rent, including: the Central Housing Fund (managed by the Ministry of Construction) and the Local Housing Fund (managed by localities). This housing fund will contribute to increasing the supply of rental housing.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/bao-gio-thoa-giac-mo-an-cu-196250920220636429.htm