Govt should streamline real estate laws, focus on social housing: conference
Govt should streamline real estate laws, focus on social housing: conference
The country's authorities should focus on amending real estate laws to eliminate inconsistencies and incorporate policies to encourage social housing over the next decade, a conference heard in HCM City last week. 
Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Van Sinh said the Government and the Party had been rolling out numerous policies to support the development of the market.
Despite COVID-19 impacting many areas, “the real estate market is still seeing development this year, though not as much as in other years.”
Ha Quang Hung, deputy head of the ministry’s housing and real estate market management department, said there were around 5,000 real estate projects underway now worth a total of more than US$194 billion.
Real estate was also among the top sectors in attracting FDI, and real estate products were growing in terms of variety, he said.
Demand would continue to rise until 2030, especially in urban areas due to economic and population growth, and around 70 million square metres of urban housing would be needed every year.
But there are too many luxury property products and not enough social housing for low-income people despite there being more demand for the latter.
Le Hoang Chau, chairman of HCM City Real Estate Association, said, “The laws and regulations governing the real estate market are generally too convoluted and inconsistent, which can deter investors.”
Despite efforts being made to streamline them in the last 10 years, there are still inconsistencies, according to Chau.
For instance, regulations contradict one another on whether businesses need to invite bids to carry out commercial housing projects and there are inconsistencies related to value added tax and income tax deductions for social housing developers.
Administrative procedures (such as issuing house ownership certificates and identifying land prices) are still seen as too cumbersome, and could drive up developers’ expenses.
He called for adjustments to housing laws and supportive financial policies to speed up procedures and facilitate social housing development.
Sinh said his ministry would continue to amend the laws, and urged local authorities to facilitate the housing market by aiding businesses and monitoring the market to ensure supply and demand are balanced.
Dr Le Thai Thuong Quan of the HCM City Open University said modern technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain were affecting the State’s management of real estate, business activities and buyers’ research.
The conference was held by the Communist Party’s Central Economic Committee, the HCM City Real Estate Association and the HCM City Open University.
