Balancing interests in the real estate market: Easy becomes difficult (Part 2): Land left abandoned after winning the auction.

(Baothanhhoa.vn) - After the successful auction of land use rights, not many residential areas have been built houses, or the unfinished houses have been completed and people have moved in. Meanwhile, the dream of having a piece of land to "set up shop" for many low-income people, workers and laborers is still a luxury.

The residential area in the center of Ha Lai commune (Ha Trung district) has a convenient location, but not many people have come to build houses there.

The land is being left abandoned.

In April 2024, the Central Residential Area of ​​Ha Lai Commune (Ha Trung) organized an auction for the right to use 41 rural land lots with a starting price of 29.78 billion VND. After the auction, all of these land lots were purchased by investors with a total winning bid of 38.53 billion VND. Through the auction, the state budget had an additional difference of up to 8.75 billion VND compared to the starting price. Meanwhile, if divided on average, each square meter of residential land here costs 4.75 million VND, not higher than the living standards of people in the area. However, according to the list of individuals who won the auction provided by the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ha Trung district, there were only 3 investors in Ha Lai commune. The rest were mostly investors in Yen Dinh, Hoang Hoa districts, Thanh Hoa city,... even in Hanoi.

As usual, after more than 1 year since the successful auction, despite its convenient traffic location, right behind the center of Ha Lai commune, this residential area is still in "silent mode". Throughout the large area, only a few houses are under construction. These homeowners said that they had to spend money to buy back the land use rights from the hands of investors at a price difference of 20 million to 50 million VND/lot compared to the initial auction price. Along this area, there are many phone numbers advertising land for sale hung on electric poles, or painted on the surrounding walls of adjacent houses. People here said that on average, each square meter of residential land in this area is being advertised for sale at 6 million VND, nearly 2 million VND/m2 higher than the initial auction price.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Thinh, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ha Trung district, in 2024, in the district, there are 13 residential areas that have auctioned the right to use 165 residential plots with the total auction winning amount reaching nearly 168.45 billion VND, nearly 39 billion VND higher than the starting price. After deducting the cost of site clearance and investment in technical infrastructure, through the auction of land use rights, the state budget has collected over 163 billion VND. However, not only in the newly auctioned land, but also in the successfully auctioned land from many years ago, the rate of people coming to build houses is not high, only fluctuating around 10% in the communes and about 20% in the central area of ​​the district.

Similarly, in Thieu Hoa district, the residential infrastructure project along the road from National Highway 45 to Dinh Tan village in Thieu Hoa town completed the auction of residential land use rights from May 2024 with 41 urban land lots. The total amount collected after winning the auction was 83.68 billion VND, 22.48 billion VND higher than the starting price. However, so far, only 2 houses have been built on this entire land area. People in this area said that the remaining land lots are being offered for sale at 1.5 million - 3 million VND/m2 higher than the auction price.

Not only in the localities but also in Thanh Hoa city, many planning sites have completed land use rights auctions for a long time, but the occupancy rate is quite low. From the area near AEON MALL Commercial Center (Quang Thanh ward), many sites have completed auctions for a long time, but houses are still sparsely built. Further, in Hoang Dai commune, planning site 12100 has completed land use rights auctions for 204 residential plots since 2024, but so far only 1 house has been built...

Social issues

According to Mr. Nguyen Manh Tuan, Head of the Department of Housing and Real Estate Market Management (Department of Construction), land allocation and leasing through land use rights auctions has limited negative situations, contributed to supplementing a large source of revenue for the local budget and reinvesting in infrastructure, serving the socio -economic development goals of the province. However, among the planned land that has been successfully auctioned in many previous years, the occupancy rate is still modest. This rate in Thanh Hoa City is only about 20%, and in districts and areas far from the urban center, it is only about 10%.

The 12,100 square meter plot of land in Hoang Dai commune (Thanh Hoa City) was scheduled for auction in 2024, but so far only one house has been built on it.

This means that thousands of residential plots are being abandoned in the province. Investors are still hoarding and holding land, waiting for prices to rise to sell for profit, potentially posing a risk to the real estate market. Meanwhile, low-income earners, workers, and laborers still have difficulty accessing residential land when land prices are always much higher than the financial resources they can arrange.

Take the case of Mr. Nguyen Phi Hung (40 years old) in Nam Son 2 quarter, Nam Ngan ward (Thanh Hoa city), for example. He and his wife are freelance workers, their income is not much and they have to raise 3 small children, so they still have to live with his brother's family and parents. Mr. Hung said: "From the money we saved and borrowed more, my wife and I also went to many planning sites to ask to buy land to build a house in the future. But the price is too high, the small area is nearly 3 billion VND, my wife and I cannot afford it. Meanwhile, asking to buy social housing is very difficult for us to access."

There are still many people who need land for housing, but cannot reach the prices being advertised in the planning areas. Meanwhile, although they are abandoned, those plots of land still have underground transactions, buying and selling between people who need to hoard land to sell for profit. This reality has contributed to continuing to push up land prices. And people with real needs have even more difficulty buying land for housing.

It must be affirmed that land allocation and land lease through the form of land use rights auction is a two-way street, contributing to increasing state budget revenue and promoting the development of many other economic sectors, contributing to ensuring a healthy real estate market. However, the story of abandoned land, while many low-income households, workers and laborers with real needs have not been able to buy residential land is a difficult social problem. How to harmonize the interests of the state, investors and solve housing land for the majority of people is not a simple matter.

Text and photos: Dong Thanh

Final article: Macroeconomic policies are needed.

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/hai-hoa-loi-ich-o-thi-truong-bat-dong-san-chuyen-de-hoa-kho-bai-2-sau-trung-dau-gia-dat-o-bi-bo-hoang-248348.htm