Young people struggling to find a place to live

The continuously rising price of apartments is becoming a major obstacle, making it difficult for many young people living and working in Ho Chi Minh City to realize their dream of "settling down". Mr. Vo Phuong Phi (35 years old, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) has been working for more than 10 years and has saved a significant amount of money but still cannot buy a house.

Apartments are scarce, prices are rising

When looking for an apartment, he set criteria such as convenience for commuting to work, quality of construction and home loan support policies. However, in the context of housing prices increasing faster than income, young people like Phi, despite their efforts, still find it difficult to find a satisfactory apartment. Sometimes, he even thinks about giving up the idea of ​​buying a house in the city to return to his hometown to start a business with his savings. "Currently, I am no longer under too much pressure to buy a house. The concept of "settling down before starting a career" is no longer as rigid as before. Some suburban areas are developing well, and I am also considering returning to my hometown in the next few years to live, avoiding the hustle and bustle of chasing after housing prices" - Phi shared.

Similarly, Mr. Cao Hong Phuc (District 11, Ho Chi Minh City) has enough savings and monthly income to borrow money from the bank to buy an apartment in installments, but after more than a year of searching, he still does not own a place to live. The main reason, according to Mr. Phuc, is that apartment prices have increased too quickly in recent times. "I have researched many projects, but market prices have increased sharply while my income has not increased. There was an apartment that I initially saw for about 2.3 billion VND, but after a short time it was beyond my budget. Up to now, I have not found an apartment that suits my financial ability. I hope there will be policies to support interest rates so that young people have the opportunity to own their own home," Mr. Phuc shared.

DKRA Group's overview report on the real estate market in the first quarter of 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding areas shows that the market is still lacking affordable apartments, when class C apartments priced under VND35 million/m2 account for only 3.8% of the total supply; class B apartments also account for 11.3%. Meanwhile, class A apartments, with more than 5,000 units, account for nearly 76%. Notably, the market has seen the appearance of apartments with selling prices up to VND500 million/m2 in the new urban area of ​​Thu Thiem.

Phu Dong Sky Garden Apartment Project of Phu Dong Group is located on the border between Binh Duong and Ho Chi Minh City, with prices suitable for many people. Photo: PHAM DINH

According to DKRA Group, the primary selling price level also increased by 2% - 5% compared to the previous quarter, with some projects in Binh Duong and Long An recording an increase of 5% - 11%.

In fact, in the context of increasingly scarce land funds and constantly escalating real estate prices, owning a house has become a big challenge for many low-income workers. Although the social housing development program has been implemented for many years, the results have not met expectations.

According to data from the Ministry of Construction, Vietnam aims to build 1 million social housing units by 2030. However, to date, this number has only reached more than 66,755 units, or less than 7% of the plan. This delay has left millions of workers struggling with cramped, inconvenient rental housing.

Early establishment of National Housing Fund

Faced with this situation, at a recent working session with the Central Policy and Strategy Committee, General Secretary To Lam requested research into the establishment of a "National Housing Fund" to develop low-cost housing in large cities. This is also a solution to promote urban areas to become a driving force for national growth, bringing great expectations for solving the shortage of low-cost housing supply in large cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

To realize this directive, the General Secretary requested continued institutional reform, improvement of the investment and business environment, and efforts to reduce at least 30% of administrative procedure processing time, at least 30% of business costs, legal compliance costs, and informal costs. At the same time, it is necessary to abolish at least 30% of unnecessary business conditions.

Ms. Do Thu Hang, Senior Director, Research and Consulting, Savills Hanoi, said that to promote the effectiveness of the National Housing Fund, it is necessary to define clear goals, diversify capital sources and enhance transparent management. At the same time, the fund needs to focus on providing financial support to people who want to buy or rent houses at suitable prices. In fact, many low-income workers do not meet the conditions to buy social housing but also do not have enough financial capacity to own commercial housing, especially in large cities.

In addition, for the National Housing Fund to operate effectively, there needs to be a strict and transparent management mechanism to avoid loss, corruption and ensure proper use. Some possible solutions include: issuing specific regulations on how to mobilize, manage and allocate the fund; regulating housing standards to avoid poor quality construction; setting binding conditions to prevent speculation and misuse, etc.

Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), believes that the Politburo's decisions will create breakthroughs in mechanisms and policies, helping localities to create more favorable conditions for creating land funds and selecting investors for social housing projects. This will also help businesses shorten the time for administrative procedures during the investment preparation and implementation stages of social housing projects.

According to Mr. Chau, the Draft Resolution of the National Assembly assigning the Government to provide detailed regulations on the establishment, management and use of the National Housing Development Fund is a very appropriate policy. Currently, the country has two provincial housing development funds, including the Hanoi Housing Development Fund (established in 1999) and the Ho Chi Minh City Housing Development Fund (established in 2004), with the initial charter capital of each fund being 1,000 billion VND. In particular, the Ho Chi Minh City Housing Development Fund operates quite diversely and has achieved some noteworthy results to contribute to building a management and operation mechanism for the National Housing Development Fund.

Mr. NGO QUANG PHUC - General Director of Phu Dong Group:

Special mechanism required

For many years, Phu Dong Group has been steadfast in developing the affordable housing segment, focusing on young first-time homebuyers. We have deployed more than 3,000 apartments in Binh Duong, bordering Ho Chi Minh City, of which the most recent is the Phu Dong Sky Garden project, which has just been handed over with prices ranging from only 1-3 billion VND/apartment.

To do that is a very arduous journey. The first challenge is land fund. If you choose an area far from the center to get a cheap price, the traffic infrastructure is not convenient. On the contrary, if you choose a place with good connection, the land price is high, no longer suitable for the housing segment for young people.

The next difficulty comes from legal procedures. The time to complete a project's legal procedures usually lasts from 2-3 years, during which time the enterprise must bear a huge financial cost. For example, with an average loan interest rate of 12%/year, after 3 years, the cost of capital can increase by 36%. If investing 200 billion VND, the total cost can be pushed up to more than 270 billion VND - not including operating personnel costs.

In addition, current interest rates are also high, beyond the tolerance of many investors who want to pursue this segment. I think the State needs to have a special mechanism to support businesses in shortening legal time, providing preferential interest rates, and supporting access to land funds. Only then can the affordable housing market for young people develop sustainably.

Mr. NGUYEN QUOC CUONG - Chairman of the Board of Directors of C-Holdings:

Buy a house with salary

Since its inception, C-Holdings has clearly defined its goal: to create high-quality homes at reasonable prices for young people - those who are working hard every day but whose incomes cannot keep up with the rising housing prices in big cities like Ho Chi Minh City. We call it the "luxury but affordable" strategy.

Recently, we introduced the Fit Fund, which supports young people to borrow money to buy a house with an interest rate of 5.5%/year fixed for 5 years - a figure that is almost unprecedented in the market. At the same time, we are developing the Fit Gen program, which helps young people buy a house entirely with their salary, only needing to deduct about 50% of their monthly income without having to borrow money from the bank. We believe that with practical solutions and close to the actual income, C-Holdings can help thousands of young people reach their dream of owning a house.

Seminar "Real Estate 2025: Housing for Young People"

In the context of increasing housing prices, young people's incomes have not kept up, the dream of owning a house in big cities, including Ho Chi Minh City, has become distant for many people, Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper in coordination with the Vietnam Real Estate Association will organize a discussion on the topic "Real Estate: Housing for young people" at 8:30 a.m. on April 3 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The seminar is an opportunity for management agencies, experts, businesses and young people to discuss and propose solutions to narrow the gap between the "dream of owning a house" and market reality.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/nguoi-tre-loay-hoay-tinh-chuyen-an-cu-196250402211029644.htm