Brokers oppose SAEZ provinces’ suspension of land transactions

Land prices in Van Don are spiralling out of control

Responding to heating up and increasingly complicated trading in the district which is home to one of the three special administrative-economic zones (SAEZs) in Vietnam, theQuang Ninh People’s Committee has stopped all kinds of land transactions (including conversion, transfer, lease, inheritance, mortgage) in Van Don at least until official information is released about the zone’s status after the national assembly session ending in June.

Similar to Quang Ninh, the people’s committees of Khanh Hoa and Kien Giang have issued the same orders in North Van Phong and Phu Quoc.

While acknowledging the need to prevent illegal trading, the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARS) thought stopping all transactions was against the constitution, which allows all citizens to trade their assets.

Moreover, the broker said this suspension would freeze the realty market, causing serious consequences not only to the district but also to the whole provinces for a long time.

Nguyen Van Dinh, vice chairman of VARS, told VIR that the suspension would discourage investors, making them turn their back on the real estate market in Quang Ninh and would go straight against the targets of attracting investment to Van Don.

On the online realty portal batdongsan.com.vn, a user named Trung Hieu still offered more than 600sq.m of land along Road 334, at the heart of Van Don district at VND25 million ($1,111) per sq.m. Regarding the province’s directions, he told VIR: “I don’t care. It is my land, if I want to sell it, I sell it.”

Truong Thanh Duc, lawyer from law firm Basico, told VIR that the suspension would not solve any problems. Where there is demand and supply, they would meet each other and administrative action cannot restrict these dynamics.

Duc added that if local authorities maintained the suspension, people will still conduct transactions anyway, which will simply lead to more trouble.

Instead, Dinh from VARS suggested stricter control and ensuring that agriculture and forest land is not subject to transfers.

He said at the same time, the province needed to disclose information on its economic development policy as well as infrastructure development, transport, urban, research on official channels so that investors could better understand the local realty market.

During the first quarter, VARS said 800 land transactions were recorded in Van Don. Currently, land prices in the area are 5-7 times higher than in last year.

Opposing the suspension, VARS urged investors to think twice before buying land in such a hotspot, avoiding traps by criminal land traders who would even try to sell non-transferred land or land set aside for delayed projects.