Low-income earners find it difficult to buy social housing.

According to many workers, the current prices of social housing in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are still too high compared to their income.

For example, the NHS Trung Van social housing project, recently launched for sale at nearly 20 million VND/m2, surprised many people. According to the Hanoi Department of Construction, the rental price for apartments in this project is 99,081 VND/m2/month (including VAT and maintenance fees), the selling price is 19,523,116 VND/m2 (including VAT), and the maintenance fee is 371,869 VND/m2.

Therefore, to own the smallest apartment with an area of ​​69.9m2 in this project, buyers need to spend more than 1.39 billion VND, while the largest apartment with an area of ​​76.8m2 will cost approximately 1.5 billion VND.

Based on data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment , if the average income of a worker is approximately 8 million VND/person/month, then a family with a husband, wife, and two young children would have an income of about 16 million VND/month.

After deducting expenses such as rent (approximately 3-4 million VND/month), tuition fees for two children (approximately 3 million VND/month), and living expenses (approximately 5-6 million VND/month)..., families in this income group can save about 5 million VND/month, or about 60 million VND per year.

The price of social housing remains high compared to the income of low-income earners. (Photo: baochinhphu.vn).

Therefore, with the current price of social housing, workers would need at least 23 years of work (excluding illness, special expenses, etc.) to be able to buy a house. However, after 23 years of saving, the price of houses would certainly be much higher, so even with careful saving, it would be difficult for workers to own a house in another 23 years.

Meanwhile, current regulations stipulate that the maximum loan amount for purchasing social housing is 80% of the lease-purchase contract value, for a minimum period of 15 years. However, to obtain this loan, tenants and buyers must meet quite stringent and complex income verification requirements.

Therefore, even though the 120,000 billion VND credit package has interest rates during the preferential period that are 1.5-2% lower than the average interest rates of commercial banks, after 3 months of implementation, only about 95 billion VND has been disbursed and 950 billion VND has been committed for loans.

Explaining the current relatively high prices of social housing, Mr. Le Huu Nghia, Director of Le Thanh Construction - Trading Co., Ltd., stated that housing prices have already risen significantly and there is no possibility of them falling again.

The high price of social housing is due to many factors, including: rising construction material costs; increased labor costs; and rising inflation. Particularly, the legal procedures for businesses seeking approval for construction projects are overly complicated and cumbersome; the longer the approval process, the higher the housing price.

Because businesses spend billions buying land and then leave it idle while waiting for procedures to be completed, leading to a lack of new projects and consequently a shortage of supply, the price increase is inevitable.

" The issue that needs attention is that Vietnamese people currently have very low wages, while rising house prices will affect workers and those with genuine housing needs. Owning a home will become even more difficult for them, and they will almost certainly be unable to afford one. Therefore, we must find other solutions to provide them with housing. For example, building houses for workers to rent; not everyone has to buy a house, depending on their circumstances."

"For those who can afford it, we will build houses for them to buy. Therefore, we should divide social housing into many segments for low-income people ," Mr. Nghia shared.

Regarding the rental price of social housing, the Ministry of Construction stated that the Government is currently reviewing and revising the draft amended Housing Law. Accordingly, the rental price will be determined as the selling price and will not include the housing maintenance fee paid by the renter as stipulated in the Housing Law; the rental price will be agreed upon between the investor and the renter.

According to the Ministry of Construction, Article 82 of the draft stipulates incentives for investors in social housing construction projects, such as: exemption from land use fees and land lease fees, tax incentives in accordance with tax laws, investors are entitled to a 10% profit share on the area used for social housing construction, and receive incentives for the land area or floor area used for commercial business, without having to factor these costs into the price of social housing.

" The aforementioned regulations, once approved, will encourage and promote investment and development of social housing, and ensure that social housing prices are at an appropriate level so that low-income officials, workers, and laborers have the opportunity to choose to buy, rent-to-own, or rent housing, thereby stabilizing their lives ," the Ministry of Construction assessed.

Chau Anh

Source: https://vtc.vn/nguoi-thu-nhap-thap-kho-mua-nha-o-xa-hoi-ar820450.html