“Coordination with localities and creating conditions from financial leverage of banks will bring ‘settling down and making a living’ to the people. The State Bank is taking the lead and coordinating with localities to have orientations suitable for people’s income.
Interest rates are currently 1.5 - 2% lower than normal interest rates
According to Ms. Ha Thu Giang, the State Bank has completed legal documents such as issuing Circular 22 amending Circular 41 regulating the safety ratio applied to loans from 20 - 50%, creating favorable conditions for credit finance for those in need.
Currently, there are 9 commercial banks participating in the VND145,000 billion credit package, with interest rates 1.5 - 2% lower than normal interest rates. "The latest lending interest rate is currently 5.9%/year. For young people under 35 years old, the State Bank has preferential interest rates with the first 5 years being 2% lower, and 10 years being 1% lower than the average medium and long-term interest rates of large banks," said the Director of the Department of Credit for Economic Sectors under the State Bank.
The young generation has been and is a large labor force for Vietnam, so creating conditions for them to buy houses is extremely necessary. "The State Bank of Vietnam recognizes that the biggest difficulty at present is determining projects with prices suitable for this group, to match their ability to pay," said Ms. Ha Thu Giang.
Referring to the preferential credit package for young people to buy houses worth thousands of billions, Ms. Dang Thu Thuy, Deputy Head of Agribank's Personal Customer Department, said that Agribank has implemented a preferential loan program to buy social housing (NOXH) exclusively for individual customers who are young people under 35 years old. This program will be implemented from May 30, 2025 to December 31, 2030 with a scale of 10,000 billion VND and last until the end of 2030.
Accordingly, customers enjoy preferential interest rates of 6.1%/year, loan terms of up to 15 years, flexible collateral (the purchased apartment can be used as collateral), loan amounts up to 100% of capital needs, and simple procedures.
Agribank is also implementing two other large credit packages. That is the preferential loan package under Resolution 33 of 2023 of the Government for social housing projects, worker housing, and renovation of old apartments with a scale of 30,000 billion VND, interest rate of 6.1%/year for 5 years. To date, Agribank has lent to 7 investors and 312 customers who are home buyers with a total cumulative disbursement amount since the beginning of the program of nearly 1,300 billion VND.
“From April 2025, Agribank will launch a commercial housing loan package for civil servants, public employees, and workers under 35 years old with a scale of VND10,000 billion. Preferential interest rates from 5.5%/year fixed for the first 3 years, maximum loan term of 40 years, principal grace period of up to 60 months, along with many incentives on banking service fees. In particular, if a couple borrows money together, only one person under 35 years old can still borrow this preferential credit package,” said Ms. Dang Thu Thuy. To date, the loan turnover of this package has reached nearly VND1,600 billion with 710 young customers borrowing money.
"Thirsty" for long-term preferential credit packages
According to Mr. Ha Quang Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Housing and Real Estate Market Management (Ministry of Construction), recent real estate market surveys show that young people (around 22 - 40 years old) are becoming the main customer group in the housing market, gradually replacing the middle-aged group.
The demand for home ownership among young people in Vietnam is very high, both in terms of quantity and proportion in the structure of home buyers. However, the increase in people's income has not kept up with the increase in housing prices, leading to the actual ability to own a home for the majority of young people being very limited.
“To buy an average house (70m2, selling price 3-4 billion VND) in big cities, young people need 20-25 years of income. This figure shows that the house price/income ratio in Vietnam is very high (very difficult to access)”, said Mr. Ha Quang Hung. In reality, most young couples in urban areas with an average income of 20-30 million VND/month have to rent a house or live with their family, very few people have enough savings to buy a commercial house when they reach the age of 30, without financial support from their family or preferential programs.
Besides, real estate supply is still limited and prices are high compared to the affordability of the majority of people, including young people.
Although the banking system is ready to lend for home purchase, the commercial lending interest rate for people and workers is still high, and the loan term is not long enough compared to the demand. Many experts believe that the credit package of 145,000 billion VND to support loans for purchasing social housing, workers' housing, and renovating and rebuilding old apartments is implemented from capital sources of commercial banks.
“Only when there are preferential packages of low interest rates (5-6%) fixed for a long period (20-30 years), will young people boldly consider borrowing to buy a house. To solve the problem of supply and demand, the first solution is to increase the supply of housing. To do so, it is necessary to review and perfect the institutions and laws related to housing and the real estate market, ensuring consistency, synchronization and feasibility,” emphasized a representative of the Ministry of Construction.
Regarding finance, Mr. Ha Quang Hung said that we should increase the family deduction for calculating personal income tax, allow a portion of the interest on the first home loan to be deducted from taxable income... to encourage young people to buy houses. In addition, we should study the model of a Housing Savings Fund, allowing workers to deduct a portion of their monthly salary into the fund to get a home loan with preferential interest rates or give money to a housing savings account for young people who accumulate a certain level.
“It is necessary to improve access to credit and implement long-term preferential loan packages. It is necessary to allocate sufficient and timely preferential loans from the central budget to the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies to provide preferential loans for purchasing and leasing social housing; and to accelerate the disbursement of the VND145,000 billion credit program,” Mr. Ha Quang Hung proposed.
To implement financial leverage, Dr. Vu Dinh Anh has given some specific points of support. The first point is to choose the right house. “With the current context, the possibility of real estate prices falling sharply is very low. The most important thing is to choose a house that suits your needs and capabilities, before deciding whether to use financial leverage or not?”, expert Vu Dinh Anh said.
“Many people have heard of taking out 'hot' loans, borrowing 'black' credit to buy a house, but there are still cases where they are forced to take out 'hot' loans to pay on time when the payment is due, and then cannot pay. When working with financial institutions, it is necessary to carefully review the contract: Is there an extension clause? What will happen if you cannot pay on time? What will happen if there is a sudden incident such as job loss, illness... because this will force the borrower to find ways to find a way, including taking out 'hot' loans to maintain the obligation to pay off the house loan," said expert Vu Dinh Anh.
Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/cho-vay-mua-nha-se-co-dinh-huong-phu-hop-voi-thu-nhap-cua-nguoi-dan/20250627081321985
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