Conflicting data adds to market confusion

The press recently quoted  the Ministry of Construction (Moc) as saying up to 80 per cent of enterprises in the property market had made profits in 2012. That number seemed to suggest the industry was not in such miserable condition as to require help from the government.  

“This figure was absolutely wrong,” the ministry declared in a statement. Its spokesman Do Duc Duy said the ministry had never released the figure--and did not disclose an alternative figure.

“This information causes a public opinion misunderstanding on the health of real estate enterprises,” Duy said.

However, this would not be the first time that governmental bodies and authorities gave different figures on a certain sector.

Meanwhile, questions were also raised about the number of unsold real estate products. According to the MoC, based on reports sent by 50 cities and provinces, the nation’s unsold, unoccupied property stock includes more than 42,230 housing units, more than 92,800 square metres of office, 98,000 square metres of retail and 792 hectares of land for building houses.

But CBRE Vietnam cited a higher figure, asserting that there are about 50,000 unsold apartment units in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, excluding the remainder of the country. Different figures were also seen on the report of the bad debt from real estate sector. According to a report by the Vietnam Real Estate Association, real estate bad debt accounts for 8.83 per cent (VND250,000 billion equivalent) of the whole sector’s total debt.

Meanwhile, the State Bank of Vietnam recently released a report that set bad debt at 5.55 per cent.
In a meeting to explain the status of the real estate market to the National Assembly’s Economic Committee, deputy Cao Sy Kiem said that the figures from those bodies made people confused and did not know what the right ones were.

“We must have a solid and exact figure before any solutions can be made,” Kiem said.

Deputy Vu Viet Ngoan also agreed with Kiem, adding that as the figures released were different, the National Assembly could not have a clear picture of the market.

“We now have to clarify which will be rescued: project developers or end-users,” Ngoan said.