Capital for real estate businesses: Bonds shrink, credit expands

In the first half of this year, bond issuance by real estate businesses slowed down, while real estate business credit continued to increase strongly.

Real estate credit is increasing while real estate bonds are shrinking because recently, many real estate projects have had their legal procedures cleared, thereby giving businesses more conditions to access credit sources. Photo: ST Graphics: Thanh Huyen

Nearly 3.2 million billion VND poured into real estate

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said that by the end of June 2025, the credit scale of the entire economy reached 17.2 million billion VND, of which real estate business credit alone accounted for 18.47%, or about 3.18 million billion VND, mainly poured into investors, while demand for home loans recovered slowly.

Dr. Le Xuan Nghia, an economic expert, said that the high price of houses makes buyers hesitate, the real estate market becomes a "playground" for speculators - investors and banks. This is the reason why credit flows mainly to real estate businesses, instead of lending to buy houses like in the previous period.

According to experts' analysis, real estate business credit has increased sharply due to many reasons.

Firstly, the recovery of the real estate market makes banks more confident in lending and procedures easier.

Second, legal issues have been resolved, making it easier for many investors to access capital.

Third, the bond market has not yet escaped difficulties, issuance conditions are tight, interest rates are high, while bank loan interest rates are reasonable and borrowing conditions are more flexible than before, causing investors to tend to switch to credit channels.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Thuan, General Director of FiinRatings, stated that in the first half of this year, bond issuance increased by 72.3% compared to the same period last year, but 75% of the total issuance value belonged to the banking sector. Real estate bonds were only about 33,000 billion VND, lower than last year.

This expert said that the reason for the high increase in real estate credit is that recently, many projects have had their legal procedures cleared, making it easier to access credit. Real estate businesses have been slow in issuing new bonds, but they have been rushing to buy back bonds before maturity. The reason is that the interest rates on previously issued bonds were high, so investors rushed to maturity to reduce the interest burden.

Although the price increase of apartments in Hanoi has slowed down, there are no signs of cooling down, with many newly opened apartments priced at VND120-150 million/m2. The high housing prices are hindering the credit demand of buyers with real housing needs.

Currently, home loan interest rates at commercial banks are 6-7%/year in the first year and floating in the following years (around 10%/year). This is still a burden for home buyers, while the social housing loan package of 145,000 billion VND is "unsold" due to lack of supply.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Bac, Deputy Director of the Department of Credit for Economic Sectors (SBV), said that since the program was implemented, the SBV has announced six times to reduce lending interest rates from 8.7%/year for investors and 8.2% for home buyers, down to 6.4%/year for investors and 5.9%/year for home buyers, respectively. However, the current disbursement turnover has only reached VND4,094 billion. The main reason for the slow disbursement program is due to lack of supply. In addition, the SBV also recorded that 28/103 current housing projects have been reported by investors as having no need for loans.

Capital will continue to flow strongly into real estate and infrastructure.

In a recent report, SSI Research analysts said that the driving force for credit growth in the second half of 2025 and 2026 will depend on real estate and infrastructure. These are also two areas that are receiving increasing policy attention, in line with the Government 's efforts to stimulate domestic demand and maintain economic growth momentum in the context of current global fluctuations.

The driving force for credit growth in the second half of 2025 and 2026 will depend on two main sectors: real estate and infrastructure.

According to the research team, Vietnam’s real estate market has shown signs of early recovery from 2024, driven by legal progress and a strong increase in new apartment supply (up 91% YoY). Real estate prices in major city centers, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, have recovered. Local markets are also attracting attention, thanks to provincial mergers and infrastructure development projects. Low interest rates will continue to boost buyer sentiment and support market liquidity in the short term.

Speaking to reporters, the leader of a private commercial bank said that in the first half of this year, real estate lending was the fastest growing sector in the bank's portfolio structure.

Meanwhile, for state-owned commercial banks, infrastructure credit has grown very well. Vietcombank Chairman Nguyen Thanh Tung informed that as of June 30, 2025, Vietcombank's total system credit reached VND 1.6 million billion, an increase of 11.1% compared to the end of 2024.

“In the first 6 months of the year, the bank has independently sponsored or acted as a focal point for credit arrangements for many important projects. In the coming time, Vietcombank will continue to provide new funding with high credit values for many key projects, large projects that play an important role in promoting socio-economic growth in localities and nationwide,” Mr. Tung shared.

The Government has reaffirmed its strong commitment to disbursing 100% of the public investment plan in 2025. A series of large-scale public investment projects are expected to boost credit growth, not only in the second half of 2025 but also in the medium term.

Although credit is growing strongly (by the end of June 2025, credit in the whole system increased 2.5 times faster than the same period last year), especially real estate credit, experts assess that liquidity and interest rates remain stable. The lack of liquidity and interest rate increases are only localized, not widespread.

Another reason why banks are more confident in lending is that the National Assembly has passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Credit Institutions, expected to take effect from October 15, 2025, giving banks the right to seize collateral when customers violate payment obligations.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/von-cho-doanh-nghiep-bat-dong-san-trai-phieu-co-hep-tin-dung-phinh-to-d328936.html