Preferential loan package for young people suddenly suspended

In the context of deposit interest rates starting to increase again and credit reaching its target early, many commercial banks have begun to reduce or suspend preferential loan packages for young people to buy houses. This has put many families with real housing needs in a difficult position, especially those with average incomes who are trying to find opportunities to own houses in Ho Chi Minh City and other large cities.

Must recalculate

Mr. Nhat Quang (32 years old) is looking to buy an apartment in Binh Trung ward (HCMC) and said he contacted several state-owned commercial banks to ask about preferential packages for customers under 35 years old. However, credit officers informed him that the program had been suspended. "Two months ago, Agribank advised me to have an interest rate of 6.3%/year fixed for 18 months. Now it has increased to more than 7% and the preferential package for young people is no longer available, so I have to recalculate the loan" - Mr. Quang shared.

According to the reporter of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, currently, state-owned commercial banks such as Agribank, BIDV , and VietinBank have all temporarily stopped implementing preferential home loan programs for young customers. An Agribank credit officer in Ho Chi Minh City confirmed: "The preferential home loan packages for young people under 35 years old are all temporarily suspended. The best interest rate currently is 7.3%/year fixed for the first 18 months."

In the latest announcement, Agribank clearly stated the suspension of a number of preferential home loan programs and policies, including preferential home loan packages for young people.

The bank also stopped providing preferential loans for land use rights transfer and housing construction and repair. The social housing loan package for young people under 35 years old is still in effect, with an interest rate of about 6.1%/year.

Similarly, BIDV also confirmed that it has temporarily suspended the preferential loan package for young people buying commercial housing. Previously, this group of customers enjoyed a fixed interest rate of 5.5%/year for 3 years, a loan term of up to 40 years and no principal repayment for the first 5 years, a preferential level that has been considered "rare" so far.

On the other hand, some other banks still maintain preferential loan packages for young people but have adjusted interest rates. For example, at Vietcombank , credit officers said that loan interest rates for young customers have increased to 7.3%/year during the preferential period, instead of below 6%/year as before. Meanwhile, the regular loan package has an interest rate of 7.5%/year in the first 6 months, then increases to 8.3%/year in the next 12 months.

In the commercial and joint stock banks such as BVBank, SHB, HDBank, etc., employees of these banks said that they still offer preferential loan packages for young people, but the interest rates will be flexible depending on each type of real estate and each period. "The interest rate level has increased, so the incentives are not as deep as before," a credit officer explained.

Gói vay ưu đãi cho người trẻ bất ngờ tạm dừng - Ảnh 1. — Some commercial banks have temporarily suspended or adjusted up preferential interest rates for home loans for young people. Photo: DUY PHU

Does it affect house prices?

According to research, the fact that banks have stopped offering low-interest home loans to young people is happening in the context of rapid credit growth and rising input interest rates. Some people who are taking out home loans said they have just received notice from banks about interest rate increases.

When asked whether rising interest rates will curb the rise in real estate prices, Dr. Can Van Luc, Chief Economist of BIDV, said that the impact will be there but not strong enough to reverse the trend.

He said that the recent slow disbursement of preferential loan packages for young people at BIDV was not due to the bank's credit restrictions but because of "a lack of suitable housing supply and prices that are still too high". According to him, housing prices are not only determined by loan interest rates, but also by project development costs, lengthy legal procedures, land auctions and excessively high profit expectations of some investors.

Meanwhile, a Vietnamese civil servant must spend nearly 26 years of continuous work to buy a standard apartment. Therefore, a comprehensive solution is needed to address the root cause of the continuous escalation of housing prices. "The management agency needs to speed up the completion of institutions, standardize the land and real estate market database, and specifically address the shortcomings that have lasted for many years," the expert suggested.

Commenting on the upcoming lending interest rates, Dr. Can Van Luc said that the increase will not be too high, because the Government has asked credit institutions to control the interest rate level, avoiding shocks to the economy. "Banks are forced to reduce operating costs, reduce profit margins and restructure their capital portfolios, instead of sharply increasing lending interest rates," he predicted.

Meanwhile, financial expert Dr. Nguyen Tri Hieu warned that although the supply of projects has gradually improved, housing prices continue to exceed the affordability of most people. This causes inventory to increase, market liquidity to decrease but prices do not adjust.

He cited data from the State Bank of Vietnam as of the end of October 2025, showing that credit for the entire system increased by about 15% compared to the end of last year, expected to reach 19%-20% by the end of the year, the highest level in many years. Of which, real estate credit accounts for nearly 24% of the total outstanding debt of the entire economy. Real estate business loans alone increased by nearly 24%, double the growth rate of consumer loans.

"Rapidly increasing interest rates have also increased the cost of capital for home buyers. It is necessary to tighten real estate credit to reduce the proportion to below 20% of total outstanding debt. At the same time, the State Bank must support banks to lower lending rates so that people and businesses can easily access capital, creating a driving force for economic recovery," said Dr. Hieu.

Capital must go to the right address

Dr. Tran Nguyen Dan, a financial expert, said that the proposal to tighten real estate credit is not unreasonable. If credit is massively extended to speculative investors, the cash flow will be amplified, pushing housing prices out of reach, exacerbating the shortage of affordable housing. In addition, the current high rate of real estate lending means that the risk to the banking system is also high. When the real estate market declines, the risk of bad debt arising in a chain is entirely possible.

However, Mr. Dan noted that tightening credit across the board will not solve the problem of housing prices. What needs to be done is to selectively tighten, targeting project development enterprises with weak capacity, large debts, and lack of transparency in management. He cited the example of the "three red lines" model in China, requiring enterprises to meet financial safety criteria before being able to borrow capital and said that Vietnam can refer to it and adjust accordingly.

According to this expert, real estate credit needs to be expanded for first-time homebuyers and the affordable housing segment under VND3 billion to stimulate real demand, instead of continuing to pump capital into businesses with "a lot of land but little money" or investors under financial pressure. To do that, input interest rates must be maintained at a reasonable level, the banking system needs to clearly classify loan needs and prioritize capital for projects with good construction capacity, transparent legal status and serving real housing needs. "We cannot continue to use credit to save weak businesses. Capital must go to the right address for the market to recover healthily" - this expert emphasized.

Must recalculate

Does it affect house prices?

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