Expert: People are afraid to borrow money to buy houses because the anchor price is very high

(Dan Tri) - Experts say the main reason people have little need to borrow to buy houses is that house prices are still very high.

At the Forum "For the real estate market to return to health and development" organized by Hanoi Radio and Television on the morning of November 16, many experts gave their opinions on the issue of high housing prices in recent times.

Dr. Can Van Luc, Chief Economist of BIDV , said that the real estate market is recovering but slowly and unevenly between segments and regions. In the first 3 quarters of the year, the real estate business growth rate reached 2.7%, although it reached 6.2% in 2022.

According to him, by the end of September, outstanding real estate credit reached 3.15 million billion VND, accounting for nearly 21% of the total outstanding debt of the economy . Of which, real estate business loans increased by 16%, while home purchase loans increased by only 4.6%.

Although an improvement over last year, this increase is still low. The development shows that capital demand is focused on the market supply side, namely real estate developers and investors. Meanwhile, people have little need to borrow to buy real estate.

An apartment building in Hanoi (Photo: Tran Khang).

Mr. Luc said that interest rates are not the cause of the above situation. Because recently, the interest rate for home loans has dropped to a very low level, down about 3% compared to last year.

"The main reason why people have little need to borrow to buy a house is that house prices are still very high, even though many investors have launched stimulus and incentive policies recently. Meanwhile, people's jobs and incomes are still very difficult, so they are reluctant to borrow a large amount of money to own a house. People see house prices as too high, so they have to delay and wait for the market to have affordable products," he said.

Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), said that the real estate market is having many positive changes, although the speed is still slow, this reflects the correct policies and timely solutions of the Government and functional agencies.

In the coming time, with the expectation of the completion of the legal system, the market will have new progress as the National Assembly has submitted to the Government a draft Resolution on piloting the implementation of commercial housing through land use rights agreements. If this is approved, projects will be cleared, and businesses will have their difficulties in accessing land resolved.

According to him, a reality that the real estate market is facing is that the housing product structure is not reasonable, there is a lack of low-cost housing and affordable housing. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, from 2021 until now, the housing segment under 3 billion VND has been completely absent from the market. As for social housing, there are only about 12,000 units to date.

"High-end houses dominate the market while affordable products are absent, leading to unstable and unsustainable market development," said Mr. Chau.

Experts say that one of the reasons for the appearance of signs of heat generation is land speculation (Illustration: Duong Tam).

Dr. Nguyen Van Khoi, Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association (VNREA), said that the problem of lack of supply, the gap between real estate segments and rising prices may reduce buyers' access to housing, especially the affordable housing segment. One of the reasons for the appearance of signs of "heating up" is land speculation, pushing up housing prices and creating a lack of transparency in real estate transactions.

According to him, this requires local authorities to have methods to regulate the market, manage and closely monitor the organization of land auctions and especially manage, monitor and handle violations by real estate brokers...

Mr. Le Hoang Chau also said that it is necessary to develop and apply a real estate tax policy because this tool will regulate the market when there is feverish speculation or when there are difficulties and freezes. However, he noted that it is necessary to have resources to build an accurate real estate transaction and price database, regularly updated, to create a basis for application.

Sharing the same view, Associate Professor Dr. Ngo Tri Long, an economic expert, said that tax policy is an important tool to regulate the real estate market, helping to maintain stability, encourage investment and sustainable development.

"Taxation will reduce speculation and increase the stability of the real estate market. Applying a transfer tax will help reduce the participation of speculators, who only seek to make quick profits without long-term value for the economy. The market will become more stable, avoiding land fever and real estate bubbles," said Mr. Long.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/bat-dong-san/chuyen-gia-nguoi-dan-ngai-vay-mua-nha-vi-gia-neo-rat-cao-20241116154515934.htm