Ministry: Ask-and-give practice still exists in realty market

A luxury apartment building in Binh Duong New City. According to the Construction Ministry, there has been a serious supply-demand imbalance in the real estate market with many housing products failing to meet demand - Photo: Manh Tung

The mechanism has led to corruption, speculation and monopoly at many construction projects. Meanwhile, the real estate market has been developing spontaneously in the past, the ministry said in the strategy on Vietnamese real estate market development recently submitted to the Government.

Due to such flaws, there has been a serious supply-demand imbalance in the real estate market with many housing products failing to find buyers. Specifically, the market has seen a huge surplus of high-class apartments versus a shortage of budget homes for low-income people.

Nguyen Van Duc, vice chairman of the HCMC Real Estate Association (HoREA), told the Daily that there remained such shortcomings as mentioned in the strategy. However, real estate enterprises are facing other challenges as well.

Concerning the ask-and-give mechanism, Duc said the problem has existed for years, making life hard for enterprises when it comes to applying for an investment license.

It seems that the Ministry of Construction is blaming enterprises and citizens for the problems of the realty market. In fact, the ministry should bear responsibility for spontaneous development of the market, he said.

The ministry in the statement suggested solutions to develop the property market, focusing on measures to develop financial institutions. The measures will help attract capital for the market and secure flexible credit policies for entities on the market.

A banker in HCMC told the Daily that to attract capital for the real estate market, it is the central bank that must take responsibility rather than the Construction Ministry, and the two agencies should join hands to solve the problem.

Banks are ready to make loans to real estate companies but they will consider the financial capability of investors carefully, the banker said.